Wolf Pack
by princessamaterasu
Summary: No one is supposed to go out the night of the full moon. That is when the gates are locked and the forest goes quiet. But Lili forgot. She forgot until it's too late to fix her mistake. Now it's dark, and they're after her. As bonds are made and a nefarious plot uncovered, Lili must make a choice between pack and family. Werewolf!Germany x Liechtenstein.
1. Chapter 1: Lili

Hello, everyone :) Welcome to first time readers and fans alike! I'm back with another story, and this time I'm delving a little deeper into the Germany x Liechtenstein pairing. I kind of hinted toward it in my last story _Unconquerable_, but this time I really want it to be the main focus. I know it's not a popular pairing, but I think it's adorable :3 Please enjoy :D

I do not own Hetalia :/

* * *

The bright full moon shined down on the small village of Schattenwald like the watchful eye of heaven. A lazy cloud or two would drift past the silver orb, momentarily obscuring it from sight, but its penetrating light could not be hidden for long. Nor could its unwavering promise, which was known by the village's fearful inhabitants and another select few. A cool breeze ruffled the needle-laden branches of the proud pines that surrounded the deathly quiet town. Not a soul dared to step foot outside on a night like this.

But Lili Zwingli was horribly lost. She had walked the forest path countless times, yet she found herself wandering aimlessly in its dark depths. Did she miss a turn, or had the forest changed when she wasn't looking? She didn't know. Her brother had told her stories about wandering in the woods. They scared her, but she wished they had scared her a little more. If that were the case, she might not be in the dangerous position she was now in.

The glow of the moon did nothing to guide her as it filtered through the branches in patchy pools. The broken fragments of light only looked like malicious eyes to Lili, and sometimes she thought they winked at her. Her breath caught in her throat as a particularly bright set of eyes blinked out of existence, and she tightened her grip on her wicker basket. She tried to swallow the lump in her throat. It, and the tears pooling in her eyes, refused to go anywhere. They were stuck, just like her.

"Hello?" she called into the shadows. Her voice was quickly absorbed by the low undertones of the forest. Another set of eyes flickered at her.

She had to get home. Lili began to walk faster with a prayer forming on her lips. The forest became denser as she increased her speed, and claw-like branches grabbed for her hair, her clothes, her feet. Out of nowhere, a thick branch flew for her face as her foot caught in a protruding root. A hopeless scream tore her throat as she crashed to the ground. Lili winced as a hand strayed to her face. Something warm and sticky wet her trembling fingers.

"Brother...I'm sorry. I'm sorry," she whimpered. Tears poured down her cheeks and stung the cut under her left eye. A choked cry escaped her lips and echoed ominously.

Lili forced herself to breathe in and out. It had a calming effect, and she found the strength to stand up. She would never forgive herself if she gave up now. Slowly, she continued in the direction she believed Schattenwald to be. If she was going the right way, there should be some road markers appearing soon. With that thought in mind, she moved through the suffocating gloom.

The eyes stopped winking at her, and she felt herself growing more confident. That was when the first road marker materialized out if the darkness. Lili wiped the tears from her eyes before she could starts crying again, only this time from sheer joy. She touched the marker just to make sure it was real. The feeling of smooth, white stone on her skin settled the nervous churning in her stomach. She was close now. There was nothing to fear.

But Lili still couldn't shake the feeling of being watched. The forest was starting to thin, which caused the moonlight to pool in larger patches. Yet the eyes never left. They seemed closer than before. Lili began to walk again. For whatever reason, standing still made her feel small, vulnerable. Not that she was a large person to begin with. Strangers often mistook her for a child until they saw the glimmer of maturity hidden in her green eyes. Sometimes they thought she was a boy too. That was why she wore a ribbon in her short blonde hair whenever she went out. Absentmindedly, she reached up, but the ribbon was nowhere to be found. Her lips curved down into a frown. She felt bad about losing it, but she had no time to look for it. She had to get home.

Suddenly, a twig snapping behind her caught her attention. She was so distracted by her missing ribbon that she hadn't noticed the forest grow quiet. A low, ragged breathing emanated from the shadows. It was everywhere, yet nowhere. Lili ran. She ran as if her life depended on it, which it very well did. She remembered the stories, the warnings, the pleadings. She remembered now when it was too late. Her legs strained with the effort to move her, but it wasn't enough. She felt a warm breath spread across the back of her neck.

With a flurry of leaves, Lili broke through the forest. Empty farm fields rushed past as she ran. She could see the walls. High, impassable walls made of rough-cut stones surrounded the village of Schattenwald. Lili knew they were built to keep things out, and at that moment, that included her. The sound of two very large objects colliding crashed behind her, but she didn't dare turn around. She could see the ivy growing across the wall and knew she was almost home.

The sound of growling and yelping grew fainter as she left her pursuers behind. Lili's heart felt ready to burst, but she didn't slow her pace. The full moon lit her final stretch home, and she was sobbing with relief. She was safe. She had faced death and won. She was home.

The gate was closed.

Lili didn't realize the heavy wooden gates that allowed entrance into Schattenwald were closed until she crashed into them. Some sort of inhuman sound pierced the air as she fell to the ground. This couldn't be happening. How could she have forgotten? Desperately, she pounded the doors with her fist, as if her feeble attempt could somehow open them.

"Please! Somebody! Anybody! Open the gates! Please!" Her shouts rang as clear as a bell, but remained unanswered. Everyone within the walls were either asleep or pretending they couldn't hear anything. It was pointless. "Please! Please! Open the gates! I'm still out here! Please!"

And then she heard it. The sound that made her blood run cold, and her arms lose their strength. A deep rumbling she knew could only belong to a very large animal vibrated the air just behind her. She could smell it, the sharp scent of pine and musk. A creature of the forest. Lili didn't want to look. Didn't want to see the bloodthirsty eyes of her killer.

"Be strong," she whispered. "Be strong."

If she were going to die, she would do it with dignity. It would be on her terms. She forced her knees to hold her weight as she stood, and tightened her hold on her basket. Maybe she could use it as a weapon. The self-defense lessons her brother had insisted she take did not seem so ridiculous anymore. Slowly, with measured steps, she turned to meet her end.

Bright eyes watched her carefully with the attentiveness of a predator. Lili could smell its breath, sour with blood. Her courage faltered with she met its gaze. There was definitely something human with the way it looked at her. Nausea twisted her stomach. Then she saw the blood. Her pursuer's jaws were stained crimson with the thick liquid, and a pink tongue lolled out from between gleaming teeth, also tainted red.

Air rushed too quickly into Lili's lungs. She was aware that she was hyperventilating, but she couldn't stop herself. It was all too much. Her vision grew fuzzy before it began to tip on its side. She didn't even feel hitting the ground.


	2. Chapter 2: Ludwig

The scent of pine and decay tickled Ludwig's nose as he sat waiting in the dark undergrowth. He knew it wasn't very wise to be in his human form on a night like tonight, but he wasn't too concerned. Only something very foolish would dare attack him anyway. He enjoyed the gentle breeze cooling the back of his neck as he closed his eyes to listen. Something was moving through the forest, and it was coming his way.

A small smile tugged on his lips as he stood. It was nice to be able to hunt in the open without the fear of human retaliation. He and his pack had been in favor of the treaty, and they definitely used it to their advantage. They left the humans alone, and the humans left them alone. It was simple and efficient, just the way Ludwig liked it. As the alpha male, he knew how complicated life could be, even without humans meddling in his affairs. The last thing he needed was a hunting party tracking his pack through the forest with the intent to kill.

With the deadly silence of an assassin, he jogged through the brush toward his prey. Even in his human form, he could be as quiet as the wind. Despite this fact, Ludwig decided it would be in his best interest to change forms. The transformation was smooth and effortless. One moment he was running on two feet, the next he was running on four. Either form felt as natural as breathing. His sensitive ears picked up the sound of other padded feet in the forest.

Werewolves.

He easily recognized the different scents of the other members of his pack. They had also noticed the disturbance in the forest. Pine needles sprayed out from under Ludwig's paws as he increased his speed, no longer worried about remaining quiet. Nothing could outrun him in his wolf form, so it didn't matter if his prey caught wind of him or not. Branches whipped past his face and caught his fur, leaving behind small golden tufts that would be gathered up by the birds to build their nests. The humans may have thought he was unnatural, but it was obvious that he fit into forest life better than they did. He hadn't the cut down hundreds of trees to build his home.

That was when a new, unfriendly scent caught Ludwig's attention. A growl lodged in his throat as he identified whom it belonged to. He picked up the pace. His pride was on the line if he didn't get to his prey first. There was no way he was letting his rival pack beat him.

The forest disappeared behind him as he shot out of the shadowy brush. His eyes adjusted to the light, and he could faintly make out two moving forms not too far ahead of him. Even by werewolf standards, Ludwig was large. He used that to his advantage and quickly caught up to his rival and the prey. Without a moment of hesitation, he barreled straight into the other wolf with snapping jaws. The two of them rolled several times from the impact before coming to a halt. Ludwig felt sharp teeth sink into his right foreleg, and he reacted by kicking out with is hind legs. He was rewarded by a muffled grunt as the other wolf loosened its grip on Ludwig's leg. Ludwig bore his teeth and clamped down tightly on the rival wolf's scruff. It yelped, but he didn't let go, even when his mouth began to taste like blood. Finally, it opened its jaws and quit fighting.

"Ah, if it isn't Ludwig," the other wolf said.

"Ivan," Ludwig growled. He pressed a forepaw to his rival's throat. "Tell me why I shouldn't end your miserable life."

"Because your prey is getting away." The sandy wolf's violet eyes stared in the direction their prey had gone.

Ludwig shifted his weight onto Ivan's throat, but he knew the other alpha male was right. He was wasting too much time. "Leave before I change my mind," he said.

Ivan made a hoarse barking sound that passed for laughing as he stood. "You would not make such threats if your pack were not here to save you." His eyes flickered to the tree line as a handful of dark shapes emerged. "I do not wish to give up this prey, but I value my life more than one human child. Remember that for the next time we meet."

The large wolf flicked his ears before disappearing back into the woods. Ludwig watched him go nervously. Ivan's pack must not be close if he chose to run away, but Ludwig did not want to linger in case they decided to visit. He turned to face his pack with his dignity as alpha male still intact.

"Gilbert. Lovino. Patrol this area and make sure he doesn't come back," he ordered. A white wolf and a reddish brown wolf melted back into the forest. "The rest of you are with me."

Three other wolves followed him toward the large human settlement in the distance. He took a deep sniff of the air, and Ivan's words became clear. The prey they had been following was not a creature of the forest. It was a human. Ludwig slowed to a walk when they reached the large gates that prevented entrance to the village. As part of the treaty, the humans were supposed to stay in their town if they wanted to stay safe. No one had specified that there had to be a gate, but the humans had built it of their own accord. This proved to be the downfall for one human in particular.

"That's what a human smells like?" a small brown wolf whispered. "It's so strong!"

"You've never smelled a human before, Feli?" the only female wolf in the pack asked in surprise.

"Nope. Well, sometimes I can smell them after they walk in the forest, but it's never this strong." Feli lowered his head and wrinkled his nose. "I don't like it."

"You'll get used to it," a brown wolf with long, curly fur said.

Ludwig only half listened to what his pack was saying. He was much more interested in the human. It appeared to be a young girl, and she was crying. He could hear her sniffling as she banged on the wooden doors. Her back was turned to him, so he couldn't see her face at all. The light of the moon made her blonde hair shine like starlight, and Ludwig thought he could smell blood. The girl must have sensed his presence because she stopped pounding on the gate. A shudder passed through her small body before she whispered something to herself.

Much to her credit, the girl got to her feet and turned to face Ludwig. He saw fear in her eyes and smelled it clinging to her like perfume. Her gaze flickered down to his jaws, which were covered in Ivan's blood, and all of her resolve seemed to evaporate. In a heartbeat, her green eyes rolled back, and she collapsed into a ragged heap. It took Ludwig a moment to realize she had blacked out, but Feli beat him to her.

"Wow, she's so small," he said. "Are humans good for eating?"

That was the same question Ludwig had in his mind. Could he really eat this girl? She was rightfully his prey, but could he do it? He didn't know.

"Do you really want to eat her?" the curly furred wolf asked as he sniffed her hair. "She's kind of cute."

"You think everyone is cute, Antonio," the female wolf said as she rolled her eyes. She gave her light brown coat a good shake before continuing. "I don't care what we do with her, but we should leave as soon as we can. I don't like it here."

Ludwig agreed. He disliked being out in the open, and Ivan's pack could show up at any minute. The safest thing to do would be to go back to their cave, but what was he supposed to do about the human? Leaving her here felt wrong.

"Let's take her with us!" Feli suggested.

"Or we could just eat her."

"That's mean, Elizabeta," Antonio chided. "What did she ever do to you?"

She narrowed her green eyes dangerously. "Humans are dangerous. You should all know that well enough, so why are we even discussing this?"

Her statement made the other two wolves grow quiet. Ludwig imagined they must have been wrestling with some unpleasant memories. It was no secret that the werewolves and humans did not get along, and the hatred between the two enemies ran deep. Even so, Ludwig did not want to kill the girl. He gently sniffed her face. The scent of human was strong, but there was something else as well. It was pleasant, like flowers.

"We take her with us," he decided. The other wolves stared at him in surprise. "We take her with us," he repeated. "Antonio, help Elizabeta put her on my back. You can carry her basket, Feliciano."

The small brown wolf was happy to comply, but the other two appeared doubtful. It was not their place to question the alpha, however, so they did as they were told. Without harming her, the two lifted the girl by her dress and placed her on Ludwig's broad shoulders. He offered to carry her because he was the largest, but also because he knew the others would not do it willingly. Though they would never openly rebel, a sense of dissatisfaction filled the air.

Then they were running. Elizabeta howled to call back the two patrolling before falling in step with the rest of the pack. They moved through the forest as one, careful to be alert for enemies. A flash of white next to Ludwig notified him of his brother's return. The large white wolf had a deer in his mouth, but it didn't impair his running. He gave Ludwig a look of confusion. His eyes roamed to the unconscious figure on the alpha's back, but didn't ask about it. It seemed that for once, Gilbert was going to keep his mouth shut for a while. Metaphorically speaking. The werewolves didn't need to move their mouths to speak, so Gilbert could have said something if he wanted to.

An eerie silence followed the pack as their moved toward their cave. The wildlife knew better than to broadcast their location when the wolves were near, but Ludwig could still smell them and knew that there was plenty of prey to be found. He would have to send out a hunting party once they returned to their home. One deer was not going to keep everyone fed.

They came to a stop as the clearing in front of their cave came into view. Heavy panting filled the air as everyone tried to cool off. Gilbert threw his deer toward the mouth of the cave and returned to get a better look at the girl.

"What's going on here, West?"

"She was the one we were following," Ludwig answered.

"I got that, but why is she still alive?" his brother asked.

"Yes, I think we would all like to know." Elizabeta stood shoulder to shoulder with Gilbert. Ludwig should have known they would side together. They were mates after all.

Ludwig bore his fangs aggressively. "Are you questioning my decision?"

"Er…that's not what we're trying to say," Gilbert replied in a low voice.

"Do you want to take responsibility for her death? She's a human, not an animal. Don't tell me you'd stoop to Ivan's level, brother."

"No, I don't-"

"If you feel so strongly about it, you can decide her fate." Ludwig carefully lowered the girl to the ground. Her hair fell in a golden halo around her head. He didn't know why he felt so strongly about defending this girl, but he knew that she didn't deserve to die. "Here she is."

Gilbert took an apprehensive step forward. He lowered his head and gently sniffed her hair. A look of repulsion appeared in his red eyes, but he didn't show any signs of attacking the girl. "She can stay," he muttered.

If Ludwig had been in his human form, he would have smiled. He shook his head slightly as the others began to disperse. Why did he feel so relieved? "Feliciano."

"Yes?" The young wolf peeled himself away from his brother's side when he heard his name.

"Watch the girl. Tell me if she wakes up."

"Yes, sir!" he said enthusiastically with a shake of his tail.

"And one more thing." Ludwig lowered his voice. "Keep an eye out for Elizabeta and my brother." He wasn't going to say he didn't trust them, but something about their behavior told him to be wary. He didn't want to be blindsided.


	3. Chapter 3: Lili

Something gently brushed against Lili's ear, and she flinched away from it drowsily. "Mmm, not yet. Five more minutes please." Then something sniffed loudly right next to her face. Vash was relentless this morning. "Okay, brother, I'm getting up now," she mumbled.

With a yawn, she gave her body a good stretch. She was sore all over and wasn't sure why. It was like she had done a lot of running recently. Her heart stopped. She didn't dare open her eyes. The memories were starting to come back. Whoever was making so much noise was not her brother, and she really didn't want to find out whom it really was. Slowly, she pulled her arms back in and curled into a ball. Her breathing was starting to speed up, and she didn't know what to do.

Something touched her shoulder. She rolled away from it and covered her eyes. It was all a bad dream. It had to be. Lili couldn't take it if this were real. She gathered all the bravery she could muster and very carefully peeked between her fingers. It took a moment for her eyes to adjust to the dim light. She was lying on her side staring at a wall. A solid stone wall. How had she gotten here? The sound of something scraping against stone echoed behind her, and Lili went stiff. She had almost forgotten she wasn't alone.

Oh so very slowly, she began to turn to face the person who had woken her. Or at least she hoped it was a person. Little by little, bit by bit, more of her surroundings became known to her. She was in some sort of cave, but it wasn't very deep. Sunlight still reached the back wall, although there was a rather large shadow cast over Lili. Her breaths came in nervous gasps. What was that shadow? What in the world could be so big? She hoped it was a bear. At least bears weren't the worst things in the forest.

It wasn't a bear. A large brown head suddenly appeared in her field of vision. It had a long snout and pointed ears. Definitely not a bear. Lili froze in fear as the beast seemed to smile at her. Yes, smiled. It was so similar to a human smile that Lili was caught off guard.

"You're awake!" the beast said.

"I-it talks..." Lili's eyes grew wide in horror. "I-i-it's talking...I-I must still b-be dreaming. This isn't real. It can't be..."

The beast, which looked an awful lot like a wolf, didn't seem to hear a word she had said. Maybe it didn't understand her. That didn't seem likely since it was talking. "Are you hungry? Do you want something to eat?"

All the color drained from Lili's face. In her terror, all she had heard was 'hungry' and 'eat'. "P-please don't eat me, Mr. Wolf! I-I'm not t-tasty at all! I p-promise!"

The wolf cocked his head in confusion. "What?"

"I don't taste good! I'm horrible for eating! I promise I'd give you indigestion! I...I...I...!" Lili couldn't think of anything else to say. She was reduced to hiccupping uncontrollably as tears began to run down her face.

"Oh no! Don't cry! Please don't cry!" The brown wolf paced back and forth nervously.

"What's going on in here?" Another large brown wolf joined the first, but this one had a hint of red in its fur. "What did you do now, idiot?"

"Nothing! I swear, Lovi! She woke up and then started crying!"

"You probably scared her, dummy! What's she supposed to think if a big wolf is staring her in the face when she wakes up?"

"But I'm not that big..."

"That's not the point, moron." The reddish brown wolf took a few steps closer to Lili, and she cowered away. "Hey, you, girl. Quit crying. We're not that scary. See?"

Lili watched petrified as the wolf shrank in size. It shuddered once before becoming a handsome young man with brooding eyes. His hair was the same shade as his fur had been, and a long curl poked out from the left side of his head. He wore no shoes, but did have brown knee length trousers and a white shirt. It would have been normal, if he hadn't been a horse sized wolf a few moments ago.

"Look. See? Not that scary," he said.

"It's just a bad dream," Lili murmured under her breath. She had her eyes closed and was rocking back and forth, but the occasional tear still slipped out of her eyes. "It'll all be okay...if...if I open my eyes. Everything will be fine i-if I just open my eyes." She opened her tearful green eyes. "T-they're still there."

"It didn't work, Lovi," the first wolf said.

"I got that!"

"What's going on in here? We heard shouting." A pretty wolf with light brown fur came running toward the three with a white wolf on its heels. A third wolf with fur that curled this way and that followed not far behind.

Lili couldn't take much more. She had woken up in some mysterious cave surrounded by large wolves that could talk and turn into humans. She had no memory as to how she had gotten there, and no obvious means of escape. She didn't know what to do, so she did nothing. A state of complete motionlessness settled over her like a blanket. Being catatonic was better than letting her fear tear her apart. Maybe if she stopped, then time would stop, and everything would stop, and she wouldn't be in this mess anymore.

"Guys, she stopped moving," the curly furred wolf said.

"Crap! You guys scared her even more!" the wolf boy snapped.

"Us? She shouldn't be here in the first place!" the light brown wolf retorted. The venom in its voice was unmistakable.

"Please be okay." The first brown wolf gently nudged Lili with its nose.

"What are you all doing in here?"

The deep voice echoed around the cave, and all the talking stopped at once. A wolf with fur the color of honey pushed its way through the others toward Lili. She met its blue eyes with a blank stare. Even though it was the largest wolf of the group, she was beyond feeling scared. She was beyond feeling much at all.

"Does anyone care to explain?" the large wolf asked.

"She, um...woke up, and then got really scared. So Lovi and I tried to make her feel better, but it didn't work, and then everyone else came and made it worse, and then she stopped moving at all and we all got scared, but then you showed up so-"

"Yes, I think I understand," the gold wolf said before the smaller brown one could continue rambling. "May I have some time alone with her please? Feliciano is probably right in saying you are all scaring her."

The others turned to leave without complaint. A small portion of the crushing weight on Lili's chest lifted. She was still terrified, but not as much as before. Something about this one wolf seemed familiar to her. She caught the scent of something she had smelled before. Pine and musk. With the smell came flashes of memory. Running through the forest. A warm breath on her neck. Something growling behind her. Blood dripping from open jaws. A muffled squeak caught in her throat.

The golden wolf sat on its haunches and lowered its head to her level. "What is your name?"

She couldn't speak.

"Why were you out alone last night?"

The words wouldn't come out.

"Are you scared of me?"

"No."

What had possessed her to say that? Of course she was scared. But something was not right. Lili found her tense muscles relaxing as she stared into the wolf's eyes. They were the same color as the sky on a summer afternoon with the promise of storms later in the evening.

"Will you tell me your name?"

It wasn't a demand. She was being asked for her name. Very politely too. "Lili Zwingli," she whispered.

"Can you tell me what you were doing last night?"

"I was..." What had she been doing? She looked around for her basket.

"Is this what you're looking for?" The wolf curled its tail toward her with the basket hung on it.

"My basket!" Lili reached for it urgently. "Oh no." Dried, withered flowers lay in the basket as if they had been there for days instead of overnight. She tried to pick one up, but it crumbled as soon as she touched it. "The moonlilies..."

"Moonlilies?"

"They only bloom when the moon is full," she explained. "I found some in the forest but...these aren't good anymore."

"What were you going to do with them?"

"I wanted to plant some in my garden so my brother could see. I knew he would never go with me to the field so..." The thought of her brother brought Lili back to reality. He was probably worried sick. "M-may I go home now?"

If the wolf had eyebrows, Lili imagined they would have furrowed. Its eyes darkened as it looked away. "I'm afraid we can't let you leave."

"Why? What have I done?"

"It's nothing you've done." If Lili didn't know better, she would think the wolf was trying to reassure her. "You know too much, seen too much. We can't have you telling the humans how to find us."

"I won't tell anyone. I promise I won't." Even as Lili said the words, she knew they were a lie. Vash wouldn't stop until he extracted the truth from her. "May I...ask you a question?"

"Yes."

"What are you?"

The wolf stood and shook its fur. "Don't be scared." It shrunk the same way the other wolf had until a very tall man, with slicked back blonde hair just a few shades lighter than the wolf's fur had been, stood before Lili. He was built very thickly, and it showed. His dark shirt was pulled tight across his broad shoulders, which accentuated the muscles in his back. He wore long pants, and like the other, had no shoes. A silver and black cross-shaped pendant hung from a chain around his neck. "We're what you call werewolves."

"Oh."

That was all Lili could say. She was having a tough time swallowing all of this, but it wasn't so bad now that she had seen it twice. Without thinking, she reached out and touched the man's hand. It was warm and felt just like a hand should. He looked just like a normal person.

"Oh!"

The man seemed just as surprised as she was. His eyes, which were the same blue eyes as the wolf's, widened. But he understood what she was doing and offered her his hand, palm side up. Hesitantly, Lili slipped her much smaller hand onto his, and he pulled her to her feet. She was pleasantly surprised to find that she liked the way her hand felt in his. It was almost comforting. She held onto him a little longer than was necessary, but he didn't seem to mind.

"Would you like to meet the others?" he asked in the same rumbling voice as in his wolf form.

Somewhere in the back of her mind, Lili knew she shouldn't trust him. He was the one who had cornered her at the gate. He was the one with blood soaked jaws that had chased her through the forest. He was dangerous, but she couldn't find it in her to care. The very faint upward curve of his lips made her want to trust him.

"Yes, I would," she said.

He didn't say anything back, but the corners of his lips curved up a little bit more. She imagined he would look more charming with an actual smile on his face, but something told her that it didn't happen often. Maybe she would make it her goal to get him to smile more since she wouldn't be going anywhere soon. Something about his meticulous hairstyle told her that he had a rather serious personality.

"May I ask what your name is?" she asked as they began to walk toward the mouth of the cave.

"Ludwig," he said simply. That was it. No surname. Just Ludwig.

"Ludwig," Lili repeated softly to herself. She liked the way it sounded. Ludwig. It was like a promise. Something to hold in her heart. Maybe her situation wasn't as bad as she thought. A small bud of hope began to blossom in her chest as she stepped out into the sunlight.


	4. Chapter 4: Lili

The sun was brighter than Lili anticipated, and she had to shade her eyes as she stepped out into the open. A breeze ruffled her dress around her knees and brought with it the sweet smell of grass and pine. But that wasn't all. Somewhere beneath all of that was the smell of fur. It became stronger as the wind dissipated. Lili removed her hand once her eyes adjusted to the light. The sight before her should have scared her, but having Ludwig beside her made her feel a little more confident. Besides, if they were going to do something to her, they would have done it already. They had plenty of opportunities while she was sleeping.

"Are you going to be all right?" Ludwig asked when he noticed her wide eyes.

Lili wanted to hide behind the tall man. At least she would feel safe there. "Yes, I'm fine," she said instead.

Five wolves stared at her, each with a different look in their eyes. The smallest brown wolf seemed to be excited, but the reddish wolf beside it couldn't have looked more bored. Lili recognized him as the one who had transformed earlier. The curly haired wolf and the white wolf both looked like they were grinning at her, but the light brown wolf only gave her a cold stare. She got the impression that it didn't like her very much.

"Hello," Lili said quietly. She wanted to be louder, but her voice had other ideas. "My name is Lili Zwingli. I-it's very nice to meet all of you." She curtsied slightly. Her brother had taught her to be polite in the company of strangers, and she wasn't about to change that just because the strangers happened to be a pack of large wolves.

"Hi, Lili! I'm glad you're not scared anymore," the small brown wolf said. It wagged its tail happily.

"That's Feliciano," Ludwig explained.

"But you can call me Feli!" The wolf jumped in the air, and when it landed, it had become a young man similar in appearance to the other wolf that had transformed. However, this boy wore a big smile, and his curl was on the right side instead of the left. "Can I touch your hair?"

"W-what?" Lili didn't know what to tell him.

The boy, Feli, went ahead and pinched a few strands of her hair between his fingers. "Wow, it's the same color as Ludwig's! He never lets me touch his hair though." He turned to the reddish wolf that he had been sitting next to. "Come look, Lovi!"

"Idiot! You can't just start touching people's hair," the wolf scolded. He mumbled something under his breath that sounded like profanity.

"That's my brother Lovino," Feli told Lili. He didn't seem fazed by his brother's strong words. "He's kind of grouchy."

"I heard that!"

Feliciano ignored him. "The curly one is Antonio, the white one is Gilbert, and the one next to him is Elizabeta."

"Hello," Lili said again. Her voice was a little stronger this time.

"Hiya!" The curly furred wolf shifted into his human form. "You can call me Toni if you want." His hair was just as wildly curly as it was as a wolf, and he smiled brightly at her. A sparkle of mischief shined in his green eyes as he gave her a wink.

The other two next to him also changed. A man with messy white hair stood where the white wolf used to be, and a woman with long brown hair was next to him. The man was pale, which made his red eyes stand out even more, but he had a carefree air about him that softened his sharp features. Lili could not say the same for the woman. Her gorgeous hair cascaded down to her waist and curled gently at the end, but her beauty was dimmed by the deadness in her green eyes. They watched Lili coldly.

Suddenly, a rumbling sound filled the clearing, and Lili clutched her stomach in embarrassment. She didn't realize she was so hungry.

"Was that your stomach?" Feli asked brightly. She didn't need to answer him, her blush said everything. "Come with me! I know a good place to get something to eat!"

Without waiting for her to reply, he grabbed her wrist and pulled her into the forest. Lili was too surprised to say anything or fight back. The young man didn't even notice that he was practically dragging her along. Once she cleared her head, Lili slipped her hand out of Feli's grasp and slowed to a stop. He turned and gave her a confused look.

"What's wrong?" he asked.

"I…um…" How did Lili say she didn't trust him? It didn't feel right to let a complete stranger drag her into the forest. There was no telling what he was really up to.

"You don't have to be scared. You can trust me."

His words surprised her. It was like he had read her mind. Lili raised a hand to her face and touched her lips tentatively. Even though it felt like a bad idea, she didn't have any other choice than to trust Feli. Her stomach growled again. He smiled and held out his hand. It was an invitation. Lili didn't have to accept, but she found herself wanting to as the seconds ticked by. Something about his smiling face and warm brown eyes made her tense legs relax. She slowly took his hand.

"Come on! It's just this way!" he said as they began walking, hand in hand.

A little while later, the two stepped out into a sunny meadow full of berry bushes and wildflowers. Lili gasped in wonder as the small paradise opened up right before her eyes. A little stream snaked out of the forest and cut the field into two halves. Feli guided her to it and sat down at its edge.

"It's spring fed, so it's good for drinking," he told her. He scooped a handful of the clear water into his mouth and sighed contently. "Try it!"

Lili carefully knelt down and cupped the cool water between her hands. It reminded her of the water from the well in the middle of Schattenwald, but as she drank it she discovered it tasted much better. She was about to drink some more when something splashed her.

"Ah!" she squeaked as water got on her dress. A laugh came from beside her, and she knew it had to be Feli. Determined not to be the only wet one, Lili threw a handful of water at the young man's smiling face.

"Take this!" He jumped into the stream and flung a big wave toward Lili.

"H-hey!" She scampered to her feet to avoid the water. There was no way she could get him back this way. She set down her basket, unbuckled her shoes, and slipped off her knee length stockings. Gathering up her pink dress with one hand, she stepped into the stream. The cold water glided around her small legs and continued on its way as if she weren't there at all. "Oh!" she gasped as Feli splashed her again.

The two went back and forth splashing each other until they were both soaking wet. They crawled back onto the grass and let the sun dry their damp clothes and hair. A laugh bubbled up from Lili's chest as she lay next to Feli. She couldn't remember the last time she had so much fun. Her laugh was drowned out by the sound of her stomach complaining again. Feli sat up with a start.

"I forgot about your stomach," he said apologetically.

"It's okay," Lili told him with a smile. She felt like she hadn't smiled in a long time either. "That was a lot of fun."

Feli brightened when he heard that. "The berries here are really good. Let's pick some and take them back for everyone."

They got to work picking the plump berries. For every berry they put in Lili's basket, two went into their mouths. Soon their hands were covered in sticky juice, but the basket was full, and so were their stomachs. Lili had never tasted blackberries quite like these. They were the perfect combination of sweet and sour. Just thinking about it made her mouth water. They made sure to wash their hands and get one last drink from the stream before leaving. The sun had reached the tops of the trees and cast long shadows across the meadow. Most of the flowers were beginning to close, which was a sure sign that it was time to go.

"Thank you for taking me here," Lili said as they stepped back into the forest. "It was lovely."

"Let's go back again tomorrow." He nabbed a berry out of her basket and popped it into his mouth. "Everyone's going to love these," he mumbled as he chewed.

His words settled like a weight on Lili's heart. "I don't know if they like me."

"Of course they like you! You're lots of fun!"

She saw the sincerity in his happy face and knew that he wasn't just saying that. He meant it with every fiber of his being. Lili found herself smiling along with him. It wasn't going to be easy adjusting to her new life, but Feli gave her the courage to keep going.

That night she lay on her side at the back of the cave and thought of home. She missed her brother dearly. Was he looking for her? If he was, she hoped he was safe. A shiver went through her body as she thought about this. The floor of the cave was cold and uncomfortable. Even though she had gathered some leaves to make a small bed, the cold seeped into her very bones. She wished for anything warm. A blanket, or even some thicker clothing would do. Anything to ward off the cold.

Something warm pressed against her back. Had her wish come true? Lili turned onto her other side and came face to face with Ludwig. He was in his wolf form, and his eyes were closed, but she recognized his gold fur. Gratitude welled in her chest as she moved closer toward his warmth. He didn't have to do this for her, but he did. She wondered why. It almost didn't matter as the heat radiating off his large body eased Lili's shivering. She was comfortable enough to finally fall asleep. Absentmindedly, her hand reached out and touched Ludwig's fur. It was soft and smelled like the forest. She snuggled in closer and sighed. Maybe this wasn't so bad after all.


	5. Chapter 5: Vash

"How much further do we have to go? My feet are starting to hurt!"

Vash turned back and gave Francis a stern look. The man had been complaining about something or the other ever since they left Schattenwald, and Vash was starting to lose his temper. How could Francis know what it was like to lose a sister? He wouldn't be complaining if it were his sister who was missing, not Vash's. Another objection came from the insufferable man, and Vash reached the end of his rope.

"Why did you come if you're going to complain about it so much?" he growled at Francis with a hand slowly curling into a fist.

"I didn't want to be left behind," Francis answered. He flipped his shoulder length hair and smirked. "Besides, I knew I had to come once Arthur volunteered. There has to be somebody to balance his poor taste in clothes."

"What was that, frog?!" A man with wild blonde hair and enormous eyebrows stepped forward and grabbed Francis by the collar. Everyone stopped walking to watch.

Vash heard a sigh come from his neighbor Roderich. "Here they go again," he said with a roll of his violet eyes.

"Um, please don't fight." Vash's friend Kiku Honda was trying to break up the two fighting, but he wasn't having much of an affect.

"You're wasting your time, aru," Kiku's neighbor Yao said. "Just let them fight."

"You want to say that to my face, wine bastard?"

"I already did, tea guzzler!"

Suddenly, someone jumped out of the bushes holding a big stick. Vash recognized the man as none other than Alfred F. Jones, the village's resident 'hero'. "HAHAHA! I'll break up the fight!" He then proceeded to poke Arthur in the eye with his stick.

"Watch where you're swinging that bloody stick!"

"E-everyone please calm down…"

"That's what you get for wrinkling my shirt!"

"Ai-yah! What everyone needs is some of my homemade snacks, aru!"

"Please put those away. The soothing tones of Beethoven are what these hooligans really need."

"I'm the hero!"

"Wanker! Give me that stick before I-"

A loud bang echoed around the forest and sent a flock of birds flapping away in fear. Vash stood with a smoking pistol in his hand pointed at the sky. His green eyes dared them to say another word if they wanted a bullet in their skull. He may not have been the biggest in the group, but that didn't stop him from being the most intimidating. Arthur and Francis released each other, and Alfred lowered his raised stick.

"Every second you idiots waste is a second we could have been using to find my sister." His words cut like a knife, and everyone looked away in shame. "We're going to keep heading south. Stay off the paths, and keep your eyes open."

"Wait, doesn't it make more sense to look on the paths?" Alfred asked. "I mean, I don't know about your little sis, but I wouldn't be wandering around the woods."

"But if she were on the paths, she probably would have made it home already," a soft voice behind the obnoxious man said. Everyone turned in surprise to see Alfred's brother Matthew standing a safe distance away. He wore glasses like his brother, and although their hair and eyes are different, the two were often mistaken for each other.

"Unless something got to her first," Francis muttered. He seemed to immediately regret saying it after receiving a particularly intense stare from Vash.

"Well, the girl's not going to find herself," Arthur said. "We should get started."

"I agree, aru!"

"We'll break up into teams," Vash instructed. "It'll go faster that way. We'll meet at the edge of the forest at sundown."

"I'm with Arthur!" Francis immediately volunteered.

"Why do I have to be with the frog?"

"So I can keep an eye on you."

"That's my line…" Arthur trudged off into the woods with Francis skipping behind him.

"I'll partner with my friend Kiku, aru!" Yao grabbed the timid man's arm.

"Please don't call me that," Kiku sighed.

"Eh? Why not? Don't you want to be my friend?"

"N-not particularly." The two also disappeared into the forest while still arguing.

"All right! Looks like it's you and me, Mattie!" Alfred shouted enthusiastically. He grabbed his brother and ran off without another word.

There was strange silence left behind after everyone's departure. A constant chatter had come from the group ever since they left Schattenwald, and Vash had grown accustom to it. The forest seemed strangely empty now without it.

"Shall we continue?" Roderich asked as he adjusted his glasses.

Vash only nodded before turning. He wasn't particularly fond of Roderich, but he was glad that it was the somewhat prissy man he had ended up with. Everyone else, with the exception of Kiku, gave him a pounding headache. Maybe it was because the two had known each other for so long that they quickly fell into a comfortable silence. Roderich had been neighbors with Vash for as long as he could remember. Francis was his neighbor on the other side, but they hardly ever talked. Usually, Francis was over by Arthur across the street. What he did there, no one really knew, but Vash imagined it was something along the lines of making Arthur miserable.

A sudden movement in the leaves caught Vash's eye. He and Roderich stopped to listen. Nothing happened for the longest time, but then a soft rustling came from Vash's left. He slid his pistol into his jacket pocket and carefully slipped the rifle off his shoulder. Roderich also had a rifle, but he held it warily, as if unsure how to use it. Vash knew his neighbor knew how to use a gun. The real question was whether he actually would use the gun. The bush on Vash's left moved again, so he slowly moved closer to it. He held his rifle up in firing position.

The bush rustled once more before a large red squirrel jumped out of it. One look at Vash, and it immediately ran away. Vash lowered his gun and sighed. He was being too paranoid. Ever since Lili went missing, he felt like he was walking on eggshells.

"We should keep moving," he said to Roderich.

But the other man didn't move. "Weren't you worried that it could have been…them?"

Vash gave his neighbor a strange look. "Them?"

"Yes, them. The, um…werewolves."

"What about them?" Vash didn't like where this conversation was going.

Roderich's eyes darkened. "Lili went missing on the night of the full moon, the one time that they transform into horrible beasts. Hasn't it crossed your mind that they might have-"

"No, it hasn't," Vash said with narrowed eyes. The truth was he had been thinking about it, and Francis' earlier comment had settled like a rock in his stomach.

"They might still be out here," Roderich said in a low voice. "Maybe not as wolves, but that makes them more dangerous. Crazy people eating raw meat in the woods. You won't know until it's too late."

"Enough!" Vash snapped. The hole left in his heart by his missing sister ached with every word. "We're wasting time talking about 'what if's'. There are only a few more hours until the sun-"

The sound of a gun being fired reverberated through the trees. Both Vash and Roderich turned their heads in the direction of the bang. It had come from the direction Arthur and Francis had gone. Without another word, the two began running toward the gunshot.

They were the last to arrive. Everyone else was gathered in a circle around something Vash couldn't see. Francis turned and appeared as if he was going to speak, but he closed his mouth and beckoned the two forward instead. Dread kept Vash rooted to the ground unable to move. It wasn't like the flamboyant man to stay silent. They must have found something truly horrible. Somehow Vash was able to move his legs. He joined the others in the circle and finally saw what had them so transfixed. A delicate purple ribbon was tangled in a low-hanging tree branch. Vash would have recognized that ribbon anywhere. It was usually tied in a cute little bow in his sister's hair.

He reached for it. He didn't know what he was going to do once he had it, but he reached for it anyway. A careful tug released it from the tree branch, and it lay limply in his hand. Something had stained the end of the ribbon. Something dark and red. He looked at the end of the branch, and it too was colored with the burgundy of dried blood. A cold numbness crawled up Vash's spine as he forced himself to look down. The dried leaves covering the forest floor had recently been disturbed, but it was painfully obvious where scarlet drops of blood had fallen.

"You don't think…?" Alfred began to say, but he let his words trail into silence.

Vash sank down to his knees, the ribbon still clutched tightly in his hand. A tear slipped out of the corner of one eye and rolled down his cheek. "This means war," he whispered hoarsely. They had taken everything from him. Now they were going to pay.


	6. Chapter 6: Lili

Lili watched tiny tongues of fire slowly eat the twigs she collected as she sat alone by the cave. The flames were the same color as the sun sinking toward the tops of the trees. A small sigh escaped her as she thought of another day gone. It had been three days since she woke up in the pack's cave, and there was no sign that anyone was looking for her, not that she had the means to really know. She wasn't allowed to leave the clearing in front of the cave unless accompanied by one of the pack members. It wasn't a formal rule, but it was the way it had worked out since she had arrived. And she was never allowed to go too far, even if she was with someone. If her brother was really searching for her, Lili had no way of knowing.

A tall figure stepped in front of her and her view of the sun casting a long shadow over her. She peeked up to see Ludwig looming over her like one of the trees in the forest. His incredible height made her feel even shorter than she was. She waited for him to speak, but he didn't say a word. The only movement he made was with his eyes. They swept from her to her small fire.

"G-good evening, Ludwig," Lili said softly. She felt like she was withering under his blue gaze.

"Why aren't you sitting with the others?"

She blinked in surprise. That's not what she expected him to say. "Well, I just thought that…I, um…" Lili wasn't sure if she should tell him the truth. It seemed like a petty thing to think, but lying wouldn't get her anywhere either. "I don't think they like me," she finally whispered.

Ludwig's eyebrows furrowed. Maybe he didn't like her either. Maybe he was going to tell her that they had changed their mind about keeping her alive. "Come with me."

"W-what?"

"Come with me." He held out one of his large hands to help her to her feet.

Lili hesitated. What if it was a trap? But as she glanced up at Ludwig's face, she noticed his expression had softened. He wasn't smiling, but he wasn't scowling either. In a way, he was asking her to trust him.

"Okay." She took his hand and rose to her feet. "Where are we going?" she asked while casting a glance back at the rest of the pack, completely oblivious to what was going on around them.

"You'll see," Ludwig answered mysteriously.

He led her toward the darkening forest with long strides, his hand still closed gently around hers. Lili had to walk quickly to keep up. She stared at the back of his blonde head wishing that she knew what he was thinking. The others in the pack were so easy to read, but Ludwig was a complete enigma. His expressions were never extreme, and he always kept his deep voice controlled. He was methodical, observant, and cautious. Lili had gathered all of this from just three days of watching him, but she still didn't know who he was on the inside. Did he like jokes? Was he really as tough as he looked? Did he care about what others thought about him? She didn't know. They stopped a fair distance away from the others, and Ludwig let her hand drop.

"Do you trust me?"

The question caught Lili off guard. She hadn't been expecting something so straightforward. A wordless moment passed between the two as she tried to gather her thoughts. Lonely chirping came from a single cricket hidden somewhere on the forest floor, and the call of a bird pierced the air causing a momentary stillness.

"Do you trust me?"

"Yes."

The word tumbled out of Lili's mouth before she knew what was happening. It was the same as the time he had asked her if she was scared. The answer had come simply by gazing into his unwavering eyes. They seemed to extract the truth from within her better than the similar stare her brother gave her when he asked her questions.

A small upward curve appeared on Ludwig's lips. "Good."

He looked away and closed his eyes. A shudder passed through his body, and he bent over as if in pain. In the blink of an eye, the human Ludwig had transformed into the wolf Ludwig. Lili had seen everyone in the pack turn into a human, but it was her first time seeing it the other way around. But that wasn't right, was it? Werewolves could only change on the night of the full moon, yet the pack had been running around as wolves for the last three days. A gasp caught in her throat. What was going on?

Ludwig opened his large blue eyes and lowered himself into a crouch. He looked at Lili in a way that made her think he was beckoning her. "It's going to be a long walk."

She understood what he was doing. He was offering her a ride on his back. She should be scared, terrified even, but those feelings never came. What would it be like to ride on the back of a wolf? Lili took a step closer, and his eyes followed her every move. Tentatively, she reached out a hand and touched his golden fur. It was thick and warm.

"I won't hurt you, will I?"

"No," he told her gently. "There are worse things than giving a human a ride."

Lili nodded and moved even closer. She carefully pulled herself up onto his shoulders and settled comfortably between his shoulder blades. "I'm not too heavy?"

He turned to look at her with one blue eye. "Don't worry about me. Just make sure to hold on tight."

The words were barely spoken when Ludwig took off. Lili had to grab handfuls of the fur on his neck to keep from falling off. The speed was like nothing she had ever experienced before. Wind whipped her short blonde hair away from her face as they shot through the forest, and everything around her looked like a blur. She thought it was a miracle that they didn't run into any trees. How could Ludwig see where he was going? Somehow he must have because he seemed to know exactly where he was going.

After a while, Lili began to relax. She was actually starting to enjoy the thrill of being the fastest thing in the forest. Nothing could touch them. They were invincible. A smile spread across her face as her laughter filled the air. She was having fun.

"Are you all right?" Ludwig's voice rumbled beneath her.

Lili couldn't find the words to answer. She was better than all right. She was on top of the world.

"We can stop if you want."

"No!" she cried.

Ludwig turned his head to look up at her, but didn't say anything else. They continued through the forest as it grew darker and darker. Sounds of the night could be heard softly at first, but they soon grew in volume until Lili could hear nothing else. An owl's hoot here. A cricket's chirp there. The constant rustling of the undergrowth as they sped through it. She listened until she heard everything and nothing. They were the night, harbingers of doom to anything that was unfortunate enough to cross their path. Lili didn't feel quite so small anymore.

"We're here," Ludwig said. He slowed his pace until he was only walking, his chest heaving to get much needed air.

"Where is here?"

"You'll see." He crouched again so she could disembark.

Lili did so as quickly as she could. She was afraid her extra weight was making it difficult for him to breathe. A hasty look around told her that she was in a part of the forest she was unfamiliar with. The thing that caught her eye was an enormous tree beside her that was easily twice the height of all the others near it. It's thick branches created a webbed pattern above her head that blocked out most of the moonlight. Lili found herself enchanted by the majesty of the tree.

"This is why we're here."

She turned to see Ludwig had changed back into his human form and was watching her closely. "We came to see a tree?"

"We're going to climb it," he clarified.

"But…" Lili looked up. The lowest branch was twice as tall as she was. How did he expect her to climb this tree? "I can't reach that high…"

Ludwig stepped closer to the tree and dropped down on one knee. "You can climb on my shoulders." Lili's eyes widened at the thought, and he noticed her hesitation. "You trust me, right?"

"Yes." Reconfirming it made Lili feel more confident. She carefully stepped onto Ludwig's knee, and then his shoulders. He stood with her balanced on top. Now she could reach the first branch with no difficulty at all.

"There's a lot you don't know about us," Ludwig said, "but it's important that you learn."

Lili hoisted herself up onto the branch and looked down with wobbly knees. She had never been so high off the ground before. "D-does that have something to do with…um…c-climbing this tree?"

"Actually, it does." Ludwig jumped and grabbed onto a different branch with ease. He made tree climbing seem effortless. "This is an exercise in trust. It's important for every member of the pack to trust each other and the alpha."

"Who's the alpha?"

"Me."

Lili was not expecting that. Ludwig was the leader! She had ridden on the back of the alpha male of the pack! She wasn't sure whether to be flattered or embarrassed. A blush spread across her cheeks, and she was glad Ludwig couldn't see it in the dark. He was already reaching up for the next branch.

"Ludwig?"

"Yes?"

"Why can you transform when it's not the full moon?" She watched his expression as she pulled herself up onto a different branch.

"The answer to your question goes back to the treaty signed between humans and werewolves," he replied. "It is clearly stated in the treaty that we are to leave humans and their territory alone, except on the night of the full moon." He swung to another branch. "That is the only time we are allowed free range of the forest. It's been so long since humans have seen us transform on any other day that they have forgotten we can."

Lili did her best to keep up with Ludwig, but his height gave him the advantage. She struggled to climb up a few more branches. "Why are you telling me this?" she asked, slightly out of breath.

"Because you are part of the pack now whether you like it or not."

Her eyes lowered. Whether she liked it or not was not the issue. There were certain individuals in the pack that made it very clear that she was not welcome.

"Look that way," Ludwig instructed. Lili did as she was told, and a gasp caught in her throat. The forest stretched out beneath her as far as she could see. Dark leaves and branches rippled as a soft breeze caressed the tops of the trees. Hundreds of stars twinkled in the heavens like distant candles that were too far for the eye to see as a gray cloud here and there covered them up like a game of peek-a-boo. "This part of the forest is our territory."

"It's beautiful," Lili breathed. She never had imagined the forest could look like this. All her life she had grown up thinking it was a shadowy and dangerous place, and it probably still was, but now she knew it could be a wonderful place too. They spent a long time starting at the forest blanketed by night.

"A different pack lives to the east. It's important that you never go there under any circumstances."

"Why?" Lili tried to hide the concern in her voice, but it didn't work.

Ludwig wouldn't meet her eyes. "They will kill you." There was an obvious edge to his voice.

"But what did I…I never…why would they…I don't…why?" She felt her whole body grow cold at the thought of another group of wolves that wouldn't think twice about killing her.

"Werewolves and humans have never gotten along. Grudges run deep, and some don't care about blame." Ludwig turned toward Lili suddenly. "Promise me that you'll never go there."

"I-I promise," she said. She had no intentions of ever going there in the first place.

He seemed to relax a little after hearing her say that. "It's getting late. We should go back."

He began to climb down the tree first. Lili watched him go with apprehension. Climbing up the tree hadn't been so bad, but climbing down seemed much worse. Her legs grew unstable as she looked down toward the ground. Had she really climbed up so high? Gradually, she eased one leg down to a branch beneath her, and then another. She forced her limbs to work and carry her to the ground. A strong gust of wind caused the branches of the large tree to sway, and Lili grabbed the trunk for dear life. She couldn't do this. Somehow she had made her way up, but there was no way she was going to get back down.

"Jump."

The voice was coming from below her, and she knew it had to be Ludwig, but she couldn't even bring herself to open her eyes to look. She could ride a werewolf through the forest, but she couldn't climb down a tree. This was turning out to be one interesting day.

"Jump," he called to her again.

She wanted to, she really did. Anything would be better than being stuck in a tree. Lili tried to focus on her breathing, the texture of the bark on her fingertips, the sound of insects in the night, anything to distract her from her current situation. She was finally able to open her eyes and look down. Ludwig stood on the ground below watching her. It wasn't that far, but she couldn't find the strength to keep going.

"Do you trust me?"

There was that question again. Even though she couldn't see his eyes very clearly, she knew they were there trying to coax the answer out of her. But they didn't have to coax. She already knew the answer. With a deep breath, she let go of the tree trunk and stepped off her branch. Lili shut her eyes tight as she fell. Something warm and strong broke her fall. She opened her eyes to see Ludwig looking down at her with that half smile of his, only this time it might have passed for a full smile.

"Yes," she whispered as she smiled back at him.


	7. Chapter 7: Ludwig

The temperature inside the cave was much cooler than outside in the sun, and Ludwig was taking a break in his human form from his tiring duty as alpha male. He had spent most of the morning talking to Antonio and Elizabeta about their recent border patrol while trying to organize hunting parties. They had eaten the last of their prey the night before and would need more as soon as possible. However, that was the least of Ludwig's worries. The two he had sent out on patrol had come back with some troubling news.

"Are you sure?" Ludwig had asked them.

"There was no doubt about it," Elizabeta answered. "Ivan's pack was sniffing around the border."

Antonio stepped in right away. "There's no proof that they crossed the border. We shouldn't jump to any conclusions."

"I agree, but we have to be careful," Ludwig said. "We'll increase the amount of patrols and hope they get the message."

He now sat alone and wondered what it could be Ivan was after. The other pack had just as much territory as his pack, if not more. It was unlikely that they would risk crossing borders to catch prey. Desperation like that only ever happened in the winter when prey was scarce and bellies empty. A thought crossed Ludwig's mind, and he didn't like it one bit. There was one thing his pack had that Ivan's didn't. Lili.

How did he even know Ludwig had her? That was easy enough to figure out. They didn't kill her, so there was no blood anywhere near the village. The only other explanation was that they took her with them, which was in fact what really occurred. What Ludwig couldn't figure out was why Ivan would want her. There were lots of other humans, what was so special about Lili? A new idea struck Ludwig that made his face contort into a scowl. Maybe it was because he spared her life. Now Ivan thought she was someone special. He was always looking for a way to assert his dominance and cripple Ludwig's pack, and now Ludwig had given him a way.

But would it really be so bad to lose her? He hardly knew the human girl. His face relaxed as he thought of their outing the night before. The weight of her sitting on his shoulders and her bell-like laugh had sent shivers down his spine. Why? He remembered peering into her shining green eyes as he asked her if she trusted him. He remembered the way she had jumped from the tree, never doubting for a second that he would catch her. She trusted him absolutely. There was no way he was going to let Ivan have her, even if that's exactly what Ivan wanted him to feel.

Ludwig's heart pounded in his chest as he thought these things. He pictured her bright eyes, her soft blonde hair, her tiny hands clasped within his own. She was worth protecting, and maybe something more. He stood to clear his head. He was getting much too ahead of himself. There was no way she could feel anything toward him other than wary. She had been taken from her home and placed in a dangerous world that she didn't fully comprehend. He had asked her to trust him. Asking any more of her would be too much. But he wanted to. Deep down inside, he knew he wanted her to do more than trust him. He knew from the very first moment he saw her.

"Hey West! You got a minute?" Gilbert strolled into the cave. He was in his human form and ran a hand through the messy mop of white hair on top of his head. "Lizzie was telling me about patrols."

"Yes, now would be a good time to talk about that," Ludwig agreed. He was secretly relieved for a distraction from his wandering mind. Gilbert was his brother, but also his right hand man. He was he one Ludwig trusted above everyone else in the pack.

"What do you think those fleabags are after?"

"I…" The alpha was unsure if he should divulge his theory to his brother. It wasn't one of those things he liked to talk to Gilbert about. "I think it has to do with Lili."

"The human?" Gilbert's brows furrowed in confusion. "You want to explain to me why you think that, bro?"

"There are two thoughts behind it," Ludwig began. He might as well say everything now that he's started. "The first is that Ivan doesn't like what he can't have. If he can't have it, no one can."

"Bastard," the white haired brother muttered.

"The second thought is that they want to hurt us where it counts. If they think that she's valuable to us, they'll do anything to get their hands on her."

"Wait a minute here West." Gilbert absentmindedly rubbed one of his eyes. "Why would they think she's valuable to us? She's just a human. She's not really valuable to anyone."

Ludwig's jaw tightened at his brother's remark, but he didn't say anything about it. "She was our prey, and we spared her. What would you think if Ivan took a human back to his lair instead of killing it?"

He waited for Gilbert's response, but his brother was giving him a strange look instead. "You like her, don't you?"

"What? Don't try to change the-"

"There! You just did it again!" Gilbert exclaimed as he pointed at Ludwig's face. "Every time I say something about her your, face twitches."

"I don't twitch," Ludwig growled in annoyance through his clenched jaw.

"Whatever. You still didn't answer my question."

"Shouldn't we get back to the matter at hand?"

Gilbert sighed. "This is the matter at hand. If you like her, that makes it that much more dangerous for her to be here. It makes it too easy for them to use her against you."

For once, Ludwig thought what his brother was saying made sense. That didn't mean he liked it. "So what is it that you're suggesting? We abandon her? We give her over to Ivan? We kill her ourselves?"

"No need to get so upset, West." The white haired man put his hands up defensively, but a smirk was plastered across his face. "I'm just saying that we need to have some kind of plan." He lowered his gaze and softened his voice. "We could just make her one of us."

The thought had occurred to Ludwig before, but it wasn't something he wanted to do. "How would Elizabeta feel if she heard you say that."

Gilbert's red eyes darkened. It was no secret among the pack that his mate had not chosen the life of a werewolf. She never once complained, but the pain was real. Ludwig didn't want to take Lili's choice from her. He didn't want to force her to make a choice either. Becoming a werewolf was not something to be taken lightly.

"Where is she right now?" Gilbert asked in a low voice.

"Who?"

"The human."

"She has a name, brother," Ludwig said. "Lili and Feliciano went to pick berries. They should be back soon."

Gilbert looked toward the mouth of the cave. Bright sunlight illuminated the clearing just outside. He looked back at his brother. "Did they cross the border?"

It took Ludwig a moment to realize Gilbert was talking about Ivan's pack again. "No."

"Don't sweat too much about it then." The white haired man turned toward the cave entrance and began to walk away. "You should tell her how you feel, West!" he called over his shoulder. "And watch the face twitching. You've never been a good liar."

Ludwig watched his brother go with an exasperated sigh. Gilbert could be difficult to manage, even if he was the older one. The alpha crossed his arms and thought about everything his brother had said. Would it be better for him to confess his feelings? He didn't know. With another sigh, he sat on the cool stone floor and closed his eyes. The image of a certain human girl danced behind his closed eyelids.

"I don't twitch," he muttered to himself as his lips curved upward in a gentle smile.


	8. Chapter 8: Lili

Soft, velvety petals brushed against Lili's fingers as she braided flower stems together. Feli sat beside her in the grass with a braid of his own. They were originally supposed to be picking berries. Somehow that turned into her teaching him how to make crowns out of the wildflowers growing in their little paradise, but he wasn't exactly getting the hang of it. Lili tucked away the loose ends of her crown and admired it in the noonday sun. She had chosen clusters of pink and yellow flowers the size of her pinky nail to braid together. Feli was still struggling with his messy crown of white daisies, but the determined look on his face never wavered.

"Does this look right?" he asked her.

"You're doing just fine," she said with a smile. "Just tuck in this piece in here." She reached over to help the eager boy. The crown didn't actually look that bad once it was done, and Feli wore it with pride.

"I'm making one for Lovi next!" He didn't hesitate to start another one.

Lili just smiled. She carefully plucked a delicate orange flower, fully intending on adding it to her own crown, when she stopped. A chill went down her back like she was being watched. It was a ridiculous thought, but she couldn't shake the feeling. An ominous presence seemed to fill the air around the two, and Lili tried to look around without attracting Feli's attention. She didn't want to scare him unnecessarily if she didn't have to.

She froze. Something growled from the forest behind her. Feli didn't seem to hear it, but Lili heard it as if it were right beside her. She felt it roll through her like thunder through a stormcloud. A quick peek over her shoulder caused her breath to catch. Bright eyes gleamed from the gloom of the underbrush and froze Lili's blood in her veins. Her mouth couldn't seem to move. Her voice came out as an almost inaudible squeak. Feli looked up at her with a smile, but it soon became an expression of concern.

"What is it, Lili?"

"...t-the…the eyes…" she whispered.

"Eyes?" He looked into the forest and laughed. "That's Gilbert!" he exclaimed. "Don't worry about him, he's a lot of fun. Hi Gilbert!"

Gilbert stepped out into the sun and shook his white pelt. His dark lips were pulled back over his sharp fangs in a toothy grin. Or Lili hoped it was a grin. The large wolf's red eyes roamed over the two in the grass before he dropped down on his side with a huff. He flicked his tail lazily to chase away a bumblebee that had strayed too close to his haunch.

"What's up kiddos?" he asked good-naturedly.

"Lili's showing me how to make a crown out of flowers. See?" Feli held up his second braid with all the pride of a new parent.

"Is she?" Gilbert turned his eyes toward the small girl with interest. "Make me one."

"W-what?" she stammered.

"Make me one," he repeated. "Make it look super awesome with a bunch of different flowers."

Lili didn't know what he meant by 'awesome', but she didn't want to disappoint the alpha's brother. It wasn't just because he was Ludwig's brother, although that did have a little to do with it. She wanted very much to be accepted into the pack. If she was going to be with them for the rest of her life, it was in her best interest to be in their good graces. This was as good a way as any. Lili began to gather up the biggest and brightest flowers for Gilbert's crown.

"So how are ya liking it here so far, kid?"

Lili had to pause and think about what he said before realizing Gilbert was talking to her. "O-oh, it's very nice here. Everyone has been very kind…"

The white wolf lifted his head when he heard her voice trail off. "What's the matter?"

"N-nothing...I'm sorry, I…" Lili didn't notice the tears trickling down her face until they began to drip from her chin. "I-I'm sorry. I d-don't mean t-to...I'm sorry." She wiped the tears from her cheeks, but they didn't stop.

Gilbert rose to his feet and moved closer to the crying girl. Wordlessly, he curled around her and brushed the tears from her face with his tail. "Hey, don't cry. You're going to make pasta boy over there worry."

She looked over at Feli, who had an expression of deep concern on his face. "P-pasta boy?" she asked with a hint of amusement.

"Yeah. He loves pasta more than a good chunk of meat. Sometimes we think he's really an imp in disguise."

"Imps eat pasta?" Lili wondered out loud, her tears forgotten.

"The ones that live in houses do," Gilbert explained. "They're real pasta fiends."

"How do you get pasta?"

"We sneak into town sometimes disguised as travelers." He flicked his ears in amusement. "I bet you never even noticed us."

"No, not at all," she admitted with a smile.

"Of course you don't. We're just that sneaky." Gilbert poked her in the ear with his tail. "There, feeling better now?"

Lili wiped the last of the tears from her eyes with a soft laugh. She hadn't expected him to be so kind to her. "Yes, thank you." She made sure to give Feli a reassuring smile. "I just started thinking about my brother, and…"

"What's your brother like?" Feli asked her with a sparkle of interest in his eyes. "Is he like Lovi?"

"A little bit. He's very serious, but also very kind. He's always looking out for me and making sure I'm okay. I wonder if he's doing all right…"

"Sounds like Ludwig," Gilbert said with a small laugh. "He always forgets to take care of himself."

"Lovi too," Feli added.

There was a pause in the conversation. Lili's thoughts wandered to her brother. She really wondered if he was getting enough sleep. He had a tendency to stay up late working on different projects and didn't go to bed until she reminded him.

Gilbert stood and stretched before settling back down in a more comfortable position. "How's that crown coming?"

"Oh! I'm sorry, I got distracted." She started weaving the stems together into the beginning of the crown.

Feli held up his own for them to admire, and then he started working on another one. The talked and laughed until Lili finished a wolf-sized crown for Gilbert. She fitted it over his pointy ears, which he flicked in approval. That same grin he wore when he first arrived appeared on his face. He offered her a ride on his shoulders when the time came to go back to the cave. Lili found it easier to climb on his back than Ludwig's since he wasn't quite as big, but the experience wasn't quite the same. She swayed gently from side to side as they walked through the forest. Feli had assumed his wolf form and trotted happily beside them.

"So, what do you think of my brother?" Gilbert asked her out of the blue.

"Ludwig?"

"Yeah. What's your opinion of him?"

She pondered silently over her relationship with the alpha male. Other than Feli, he had been the first to show her any sort of kindness. She thought of the night before and their thrilling ride through the shadow cloaked forest. He made her feel safe and strong. She wasn't afraid when he was with her. She hardly knew him, and yet she felt like she trusted him with everything, which she had when she jumped from that tree. But how did she really feel about him? She tried very hard not to blush as she thought about his strong arms cradling her as he caught her, his blue eyes searching her face. For what, she didn't know. Maybe he was looking in her for the same thing she was looking for in him.

"He's very kind," Lili began, "and tall. He's also...very strong." Try as she might to stop it, a bright red blush very noticeably colored her cheeks.

"So you like him." Gilbert said it as a statement, not a question.

"Well, I-I wouldn't s-say that...necessarily...I…"

"Aww! Lili and Ludwig!" Feli chanted. "Lili and Ludwig! Lili and Ludwig!"

Lili's blush deepened. "P-please, not so l-loudly…" She lowered her eyes. "I don't even know how he feels about me."

Gilbert turned to stare at her with a mischief filled eye. "There's only one way to figure that out." Lili was afraid of what he was going to say next. "You have to tell him."

"I-I couldn't possibly do a thing like that!"

"Then I guess you'll never know," he said.

"You can do it Lili!" Feli cheered. He wagged his bushy tail. "I believe in you!"

The three of them entered the clearing in front of the cave. Antonio and Elizabeta were the only ones around, and their ears perked when they heard the others approaching. Lili felt fear stab her heart when she saw the glare Elizabeta sent her way, but Gilbert acted like he didn't see it at all. He didn't stop to allow her to get off until they were right in front of the cave entrance. She slid off his shoulders as quickly as she could as to not incur any more wrath than she already had.

Gilbert gave her a reassuring poke with his dark nose. "Don't worry about Lizzie. She'll warm up to you. And don't forget about what I said," he added with a wink. He trotted to join the pale brown wolf leaving Lili alone.

"Come and eat something, Lili!" Feli called. He was sitting next to Antonio, whose friendly green eyes shined welcomingly. "Toni already cooked it for you!"

"C-coming!" Lili replied as she tried to ignore the hostile glare coming from Elizabeta. She joined Feli and Antonio by a small, messy fire that someone must have started in their human form. Feli did his best to lighten the conversation, but it didn't do much to lift the weight in Lili's heart. All she could think about was talking to the pack's intimidating alpha male about her growing feelings. It was not possible for her to deny their existence any longer.


	9. Chapter 9: Lili

It took a whole day for Lili to muster enough courage to make eye contact with Ludwig, and another two days after that for her to speak to him. The whole incident was quite accidental, but she might not have spoken to him otherwise. She had excused herself from the rest of the pack to relieve her full bladder and was on her way back when she saw Ludwig watching everyone from the entrance of the cave. The faint light of the early evening cast shadows on his face. She waited a moment instead of making herself known to admire his strong jaw, his watchful eyes, his well toned arms. A faint dusting of red appeared on her cheeks.

She took a step closer to get a better look of his face, but the movement caught his attention. "G-good evening, Ludwig," she said as he turned to look at her.

"Good evening, Lili. Why aren't you with the others?"

"I had to...um." She pointed into the woods, but didn't say any more.

He seemed to understand what she meant. "Do you still think they don't like you?" he asked.

"No, well...not all of them." Lili felt her confidence starting to wane. "I don't think Elizabeta likes me that much."

Ludwig glanced back at the pack for just a moment. "She has more reason to than anyone else. Her life hasn't been easy."

"Will you tell me about it?"

He looked surprised by her eagerness. "Maybe that's something you should ask her."

Lili pursed her lips. It had taken all the courage she had to approach Ludwig. She didn't know where she was going to find the strength to talk to Elizabeta, who obviously had a low tolerance for her.

"Can I talk to you about something?"

They both looked at each other in amazement. Somehow they had spoken in sync as if they had known all along what the other was thinking. Lili covered her mouth with wide eyes, and a corner of Ludwig's lips twitched up in amusement.

"Y-you go first," Lili said before he could ask her to speak.

"Perhaps somewhere a little more private."

Just then, boisterous laughter filled the air, and they looked back toward the pack. It was obvious they were having fun joking with each other by the large fire Gilbert and Antonio had built earlier that evening. It cast elongated shadows out on the clearing, which appeared both ominous and comical at the same time. Lili agreed that this was not the best place to discuss what she had spent the last few days trying to sort out in her heart.

"Where should we go?" she asked.

"I can think of a few secluded places," Ludwig replied. His voice was calm and collected, but his posture had become nervous throughout the course of the conversation. Lili didn't know if that was a good sign not.

Her heart skipped at the word 'secluded'. She didn't know if she could handle being alone with Ludwig anywhere that was too remote. What she wanted was privacy, not intimacy. "Can I pick the spot?"

He raised an eyebrow quizzically but didn't refuse. "Of course."

"Can you take us to the trail that goes south out of Schattenwald?"

Ludwig nodded. He gestured with his hand for her to follow him into the now dark forest. The sun had finished its descent long ago, and the trees were cloaked in a fine layer of darkness. By the time Lili caught up to the alpha male, he was already waiting for her in his wolf form. A patch of moonlight cut through the gloom and illuminated his fur like it was real gold. Lili wondered what it would be like to brush such thick fur, but pushed that thought away quickly. There were far more important things for her to be thinking about.

She climbed onto his shoulders without a word, and he started running at a relaxed pace. It was nowhere near as fast as their first ride together, but that didn't make it any less thrilling. Lili couldn't put her finger on exactly what it was that made running through the forest with Ludwig so exhilarating. Perhaps it was his size, or his commanding authority as an alpha. Whatever it was, it made her feel unstoppable. She reveled in the feeling as branches rushed by. Ludwig never got close enough to any of them for her to get scratched, which only increased the illusion of invincibility.

They arrived at the forest path sooner than Lili would have liked. She had been planning on using the time to plan out what she was going to say, but had been too lost in other thoughts to remember. A lump seemed to catch in her throat as she slid off the golden wolf's back. She really didn't have a reason to panic. There was still some distance they would have to walk until they arrived at the their destination. But the silence was starting to get to her. The occasional cricket chirped here and there, but it was not enough to fill the empty air between the two. Lili had to say something before she snapped under the pressure.

"Is this still part of your territory?" she asked as she walked.

"Yes. We're getting close to the border we share with the other pack, but it's still farther away. We're not going to go that far, are we?"

"No, it's not far." They grew silent as the conversation came to a dead end. "Why are there two packs?"

"Why?" Ludwig repeated. "That's not the easiest question to answer. I suppose the best answer is that we even though we're all werewolves, we don't all get along."

This surprised Lili. She knew there was conflict between the werewolves and the humans, but she didn't realize there was conflict amongst the werewolves too. "Why not?"

"We don't see eye to eye about certain...issues."

Lili didn't need to be told that those issues were probably humans. There had been a lot she had learned about the werewolves in the time she spent living with them that she hadn't been told before, but there were some things that she had been told that were true after all. Some werewolves really did hate humans. She was glad she had ended up with the group that seemed to be okay with her. While she was thinking these thoughts, Ludwig had turned back into a human and walked silently beside her. It was a little strange how quiet he was. Lili's feet crunched as she walked over the layer of dead leaves and pine needles on the ground.

"We're here," she said softly as they walked into a clearing. The ground dipped down like a shallow bowl, and hundreds of flowers the grew in the depression. They came up around Lili's knees and had long white petals that were shut tight.

"Are these…?"

"Moonlilies," Lili answered wistfully. She remembered back to the night they had all been in bloom. It had been a breathtaking sight, and she wished she could show Ludwig what she had seen.

"I didn't realize they grew in our territory," he said with a hint of curiosity in his voice. He knelt down to get a better look at the sleeping flowers. "We don't come to this area often because of the pixies."

"Pixies?"

"They don't like us very much." He swatted something away from his face. "We try to keep our distance but...sometimes it's...unavoidable." He quickly rose to his feet and stepped back with a look of annoyance.

"What's wrong?"

"Hm? Oh, you can't see them," he said.

Lili had no idea what he was talking about. "Who?"

"The pixies."

"Here?"

"Close your eyes," he instructed with a faint smile.

She did what she was told with a mixture of excitement and worry. What if he was just leading her on? Maybe pixies don't really exist, and when she opened her eyes he would be gone. Something warm took Lili by the hand and lead her into the flowers. She realized it was Ludwig after hearing him grunt unhappily about something. Presumably the pixies. He turned her hand over palm side up and let go.

"When you're ready, open your eyes," he whispered against her ear. She tried not to shudder at his nearness.

Lili wanted to open her eyes. She really did, but she was afraid she wouldn't see anything when she did. What if Ludwig was lying? What if she just couldn't see them because she was a human? She couldn't bear it if her humanity kept her from seeing the pixies. She wanted nothing more in that moment than to see what Ludwig saw. As she thought that, something soft brushed her cheek. Then something pulled on her hair. Her hand seemed to grow heavy as if something was on it.

She opened her eyes. It took a moment for her eyes to focus, but she gasped as soon as they did. A small creature of some sort was sitting on her hand as if it were a normal thing to do. The pixie smiled as soon as she saw Lili watching her and waved. She looked just like a tiny little human, but had a pair of glossy wings that looked as if they would turn to dust if Lili touched them. The only other differences she noticed were their eyes and teeth. All of the pixies she could see had eyes that were either completely black, or completely white, and their teeth appeared as if they had been sharpened into points. What they used them for, she couldn't imagine.

"Hello," Lili whispered. She didn't want to scare the little creature away. Two more came into view and vied with the first one for her attention. They had the same general appearance, but there were subtle differences between them. One had pointed ears and short black hair, another had skin that was slightly olive in color, and the third had the reddest hair that Lili had ever seen. "You're all so pretty," she told them, and they fluttered happily.

One of them looked over Lili's shoulder and began twittering angrily. The other two soon joined in, and before Lili knew what was happening, a whole mob of pixies were swarmed around her. At first she thought she had done something wrong, but then she looked behind her. Ludwig stood not far from her trying to fend off attacks from dive bombing pixies. They seemed to get more upset the closer to Lili he got.

"Oh no! Please don't hurt him," she pleaded. "He's not bad, I promise."

Her words had no effect at first, but the attacks were starting to grow less frequent. In an attempt to keep Ludwig from any more harm, Lili closed the space between them and reached for his hand. As soon as her hand touched his, all of the pixies were still. They watched in silence as she assessed the damage.

"Are you hurt?" she asked him anxiously.

"No, I've gotten worse from them before. They're usually much nastier." A hiss came from the pixies.

"Why don't they like you?"

"It's not me personally," Ludwig replied with a small shrug. "They don't like any of us."

A shallow cut on his cheek was dripping blood, but it looked like it was already starting to heal itself. Lili raised a hand tentatively, but she stopped when she realized what she was doing. She really shouldn't be acting so familiar with him, but before she could put her hand back down, Ludwig caught it with his other hand. His usual serious expression was replaced by one of uncertainty.

"Why don't they attack me?" she asked eventually.

At that Ludwig smiled. "They must like you," he said, "and I don't blame them."

"Oh…"

Lili wanted to say more, but nothing came. Instead, she stared up into his blue eyes, and the whole world seemed to be holding its breath. Not even the previously outraged pixies dared to make a sound. Everything was focused on this moment, just like Ludwig was focused on her. He leaned down to lessen the gap between them, and she willed herself to be taller. She waited with anxious anticipation as her heart beat faster and faster, but she had no idea what she was waiting for. It wasn't long before she found out, and the whole world let out a collective sigh.


	10. Chapter 10: Ludwig

It wasn't a confession. Not by a long shot, but Ludwig still felt the back of his neck sweating as he spoke. "They must like you," he said, "and I don't blame them."

"Oh…"

He didn't know whether she had taken it as a compliment or not. It was next to impossible to read her face. Ludwig hated this feeling. He hated not knowing what kind of a situation he was in. There had to be a sure way to know if Lili felt the same way as he did, and there was only one thing coming to mind. It had it's pros and cons. He wouldn't have to speak, which was good. He would have no chance to play it off as something less serious if it went wrong, which was bad. Very bad. He had to go all in, or not at all.

There was a magnetism that pulled him closer to Lili and her to him. He brushed some of the hair out of her face as he leaned in closer, and her large green eyes threatened to swallow him whole. They closed slowly as her lips brushed against Ludwig's. He had to hold back a sigh of pleasure as their lips melded together in a gentle, but charged kiss. This wasn't what he had planned would happen, but he didn't care. He wouldn't trade the feeling of holding Lili in his arms with their lips pressed tightly together for anything. The pixies seemed to forget their dislike for Ludwig and fluttered around the two excitedly.

They broke for some much needed air. He noted the vibrant blush that had risen to her cheeks and assumed that he looked quite similar. Lili reached up to touch Ludwig's hand, which he had left tangled in her short hair. He didn't want to shatter the silence that hung between them like a delicate plane of glass, but something had to be said.

"I'm sorry. I should have asked," he apologized when he saw her startled expression.

"N-no!" She seemed surprised by the forcefulness of her own voice. "I-it's okay. I didn't mind. It was...nice." Her blush deepened.

Ludwig's heart soared. Maybe it was possible that she felt the same way he did. He had to know. It was too late to go back now. "Lili, I…" He tried to grasp the right words to say. "I wanted to tell you that...that I…"

Lili smiled and placed a finger on his lips. "It's okay. I...wanted to tell you the same thing."

He didn't know whether to believe his ears. "It doesn't bother you that I'm not...human?"

"Does it bother you that I'm not a werewolf?"

"No, not at all," he said with a smile. A real smile. It came from deep within his being and stretched his lips in a way he didn't think was possible. He even laughed. "I'm glad my brother talked me into this."

"Gilbert?" Lili gave him a look of confusion. "He talked to you too?"

Now it was Ludwig's turn to be surprised. "Are you saying he said something to you too?" He shook his head. Leave it to Gilbert to mastermind something like this behind both their backs, but Ludwig couldn't find it within himself to be angry. He probably owed his brother a favor. "My brother the schemer."

"But I'm glad." Her smile seemed to light up the night far more that the waning moon did. "Aren't you?"

"Of course."

A pixie with shockingly red hair flew toward Lili's ear and whispered something in it. "Will you leave them alone?" Lili asked the tiny creature. The pixie twittered something else. "Yes, all of them, please, not just Ludwig...yes, even if they smell like wet dogs." The pixie nodded and flew away.

"You can understand them?" Ludwig asked in amazement.

"Yes, can't you?"

"No." He studied her as if her appearance could explain to him how it was possible for her to understand the pixies. It just sounded like gibberish to him.

Another pixie, this time with olive skin, approached Lili and said something. "There have been humans around here," Lili explained with a look of concern. "It sounds like they came from my village…"

He waited in anxious silence for her to do something. To cry, to run away, to plead to be let go. All of these scenarios and more would have made sense. She was far from home and in a strange place. It was only natural to want to leave. But he hoped she didn't. He wanted more than anything for her to stay here. She had been told that she didn't have a choice, but that wasn't necessarily the truth. He couldn't stop her if she decided to run away while everyone was asleep, or to kill them all either. Those were her choices, but as the moonlight made her eyes shimmer like two polished stones, Ludwig hoped she would stay.

"The pixies are keeping them away from this area when they wander too close," she continued in a small voice. "They seem to be searching for something."

Ludwig had known humans had been wandering in his pack's territory. He also knew that they were probably looking for Lili, and if his feelings were true, he had to let her do what was best for her. If that meant Lili left and never came back, then so be it. "You can go to them if you want."

"But they'll make me tell where I've been!" she said with alarm. "I don't want them to hurt you."

"But I don't want to hurt you either."

She seemed to understand what he meant, but didn't appear to care. "I love my brother, and I miss him dearly, but I...I don't want to leave."

Her words were the sweetest thing Ludwig had ever heard. Without saying a word, he kissed her again. This time with passion and fire. And he thought that maybe he now understood what it was that Gilbert and Elizabeta felt when they were together. The thrill of being with someone who felt something toward him was an experience Ludwig had never had before. He didn't want to ever give it up.

"Then stay with me," he breathed as their lips parted. They both panted from the effort of the kiss, but they couldn't tear their eyes away from the other's. "Stay with me."

"I will," Lili promised as he placed a gentle kiss on her forehead. This feeling was eating him up from the inside out. It was like a beast thrashing to get free, and he had an awful lot of experience knowing what that felt like.

"Let's go home."

"Yes. Home." She took his hand, and they walked out of the flowers with the moon lighting their way.

All their worries and troubles seemed to shrink into miniscule specks that could easily be blown away in the wind. They were from two different worlds, but a bridge had been forged that night to bring them together. Ludwig didn't know exactly what to call it. It filled his tall form with warmth as if Lili were his own personal sun, as if by some twist of fate their orbits had collided and realigned so that the centers of their universe now consisted of the other, an unseen force drawing them closer and closer together. The human and a werewolf.


	11. Chapter 11: Lili

Lili thought of the moon that hung in the night sky and lit the moment that burned itself into her memory. She thought of Ludwig's hand curled in her hair as his lips pressed firmly against hers. They had been soft and filled her with warmth. Her mind had gone momentarily blank, but it didn't stop her body from reacting. She wanted it. She wanted it very badly. He pulled her closer, and she didn't resist. In fact, she had pressed herself into his solid body as forcefully as she could. She didn't want him to let go. She didn't want the moment to end.

"You doing all right up there? You've been quiet for a while now."

"H-huh?" Antonio's voice startled her out of her daydream and back into reality. She had been reliving the night when she and Ludwig had kind of confessed their feelings for each other. It had been a few days, but they had been next to inseperable ever since. "S-sorry. I was just...thinking."

"Don't forget to keep your eyes alert," he reminded her. The one green eye she could see flashed playfully before he turned his face back around. "We're on patrol."

Lili had volunteered to go on patrol with Antonio and Elizabeta that morning, so she was now riding on Antonio's shoulders as he and Elizabeta padded through the forest in their wolf forms. They had been quiet and unsociable at first, but Antonio eventually warmed up to her. He was easygoing and fun to talk to. Lili found herself laughing at the things he said as she absentmindedly tugged on his curly fur. Even the shortest strands of fur curled, and she found it kind of funny to try to pull them straight. They never stayed that way though. The only one of them that didn't seem to be having fun was Elizabeta. She didn't say a word until they reached the eastern border.

"Stay alert for trespassers," she growled. "They've been acting suspicious over here."

"They?" Lili asked nervously.

"Yeah, the other pack," Antonio explained. His usually carefree tone was streaked with caution. "We've smelled them really close to the border, and sometimes in our territory too."

She swallowed nervously, Ludwig's warning about them echoing in their head. What if they were around right now? She felt somewhat safe riding on top of Antonio, but he wouldn't be able to carry her and fight, and she got the impression that Elizabeta wouldn't be too keen on defending her if Lili became the target. How she wished Ludwig was here. He had encouraged her to go on patrol so she could get a feel for their territory, but he hadn't mentioned anything about the other pack. She didn't know whether to take confidence in that or not.

"Wait." Elizabeta stopped and sniffed the air. Her green eyes darted around in search of an unseen danger. "I smell something," she said in a low voice. "It's close."

"Is is recent?" Antonio asked as he smelled the air for himself.

"Maybe. It's hard to tell with her around," she said with a pointed look at Lili.

Before Lili could say anything, a branch snapped behind them. She gasped in surprise and tightened her hold on Antonio's fur. The sound had come from their territory, so it probably wasn't anything they needed to be worried about. Probably.

"I'm going to go check it out," Elizabeta murmured.

"No, I'll do it." Antonio stepped forward. "You run faster than I do. If anything happens, you take Lili and run."

The light brown wolf didn't look too happy with his plan, but she didn't contradict him. Lili slid off Antonio's shoulders onto her shaking feet. She felt even less confident now that she was on the ground again. Maybe it would have been different if she was bigger, but she wasn't.

"Please be careful," she said before Antonio left.

"Don't worry about me. Just don't let Elizabeta do anything stupid." He gave her a grin and disappeared into the brush.

Lili wished he hadn't said anything about Elizabeta. Now the silence between them had grown even more tense, and she was sure something bad was going to happen. Slowly, she turned to look at the female wolf, who glared back at her with contempt. Each second felt like eternity as they waited for Antonio to return. Lili tried to occupy herself with naming all the flowers she knew, or counting backwards from one hundred, but she found it difficult to concentrate. All she could think about was the negative energy that charged the air.

"U-um...we've never been formally introduced," Lili said with all the courage she could muster.

"I know who you are," Elizabeta replied coldly.

"But…" Lili could tell this wasn't going to be easy. "I-I just thought that it would be nice to get to know each other a little better…"

"You don't need to know anything about me."

Silence fell between them, but it didn't last for long. "Why don't you like me?"

"Don't flatter yourself," Elizabeta sneered. "It's not just you. It's the whole human race I have a problem with."

That reminded Lili of something Ludwig had said the night they snuck away to the field of moonlilies. "What has your life been like?"

Elizabeta's expression changed from contempt to genuine surprise. "W-why would you care?" she asked with less venom in her voice than usual.

"I think we could be friends...if we tried."

The wolf looked skeptical, but didn't make any snide remarks. "What do you want to know?"

Lili took a moment to think it over. "Whatever you want to tell me," she said.

There was silence that seemed to stretch on and on. "I came from the same village as you," Elizabeta finally began. She sat down on her haunches and gently curled her tail in front of her paws like a cat. "You wouldn't know since you probably weren't born then," she explained when she saw Lili's shocked expression. "One night, when I was very little, Roderich and I decided to sneak out and see for ourselves what really happened on the night of the full moon. That was back when I was Elizabeta Héderváry."

Lili was even more shocked to hear that Elizabeta knew her neighbor. Roderich had never said anything about her before, but she didn't want to interrupt to ask about it.

"That was our first mistake. Our second was to use a rope to climb over the gate. They found us before we could get too far. We ran as fast as we could, but it wasn't enough. I dragged Roderich the best I could but I knew he wasn't going to make it." She paused for a moment as if replaying the moment in her head. "I made Roderich climb the rope first and tried to fend them off the best that I could. It was all a blur. When I woke up the next morning, I was surrounded by the village people. No one wanted to come near me because I was covered with blood. It was hard to say who it belonged to. That was when I discovered I had no injuries, but I could remember teeth biting into my arms and legs, and that's when I knew."

She looked Lili in the eyes sadly. "I was one of them. The village people knew it too. My accelerated healing was proof that I was no longer one of them. They threw me out, treated me like a disease. Even Roderich looked at me like I was some sort of monster. My best friend…" Her voice trailed off.

Lili couldn't stand it. She hated the people on her village for treating Elizabeta so badly. It just wasn't fair. What had she done wrong? Before Lili knew what she was doing, she crossed the gap between them and put her arms around the brown wolf's neck. Elizabeta tensed at the sudden embrace, but didn't pull away. After a moment she leaned into Lili and flicked her tail appreciatively.

"I'm so sorry," Lili whispered. She knew there wasn't anything she could do to remedy the years of pain Elizabeta had to endure, but she could at least try.

Suddenly, something moved in the bushes to their right. A small, silvery wolf stepped out of the shadows and stared at them with a blank expression. "Oh, how sweet," it said with an emotionless voice.

"Natalya!" Elizabeta shouted as she jumped to her feet. "What are you doing here?"

"I'm here for the girl, so hand her over. Brother has need of her."

"As if I would let you do whatever you want." Elizabeta dropped into a crouch and growled threateningly.

Lili looked back and forth between the wolves with fear. Elizabeta's reaction filled her with the worst kind of dread. That other wolf must be from the other pack, and she was here for her. Lili didn't know what to do. She couldn't fight a werewolf and expect to win. Her only hope rested with Elizabeta.

"Run," the light brown wolf told her.

"B-but I can't leave you-"

"Run!" Elizabeta shouted more forcefully. "I'll take care of Miss Dead Eyes."

"If you want your friends to stay alive, you'll come with me," Natalya told her.

"Don't listen to her! Just run!"

Elizabeta leaped for the other wolf with her teeth bared. The silvery wolf's lips twitched upward in amusement, but her eyes remained lifeless and blank. She turned in time to send Elizabeta flying with a kick from both her back legs. The brown wolf landed with a grunt, but was soon on her feet. It wasn't a moment too soon because Natalya was already on top of her and poised to bite. Elizabeta dodged the attack and retaliated with a bite of her own. Her teeth locked onto the other wolf's shoulder with deadly accuracy.

The fight looked like it was going to her advantage. Natalya couldn't land a single blow in the position they were currently in, and Elizabeta just sank her fangs in deeper. Lili watched in amazement and horror at these two forced going back and forth. They fought as if it was their last fight, each with the shrewdness of a seasoned warrior. That was when Natalya somehow broke free and lashed out again with her hind legs. They connected with Elizabeta's chest leaving her staggered and winded. The silver wolf took the opportunity to wrestle the other to the ground. It was obvious now that she had the advantage and planned to use it. Her teeth had a deadly gleam as she opened her mouth to bite into Elizabeta's throat.

"W-wait," Lili called, but her voice was too weak to be heard.

Natalya lowered her head to claim her victory.

"Wait!"

But there was no stopping her. She placed a forepaw on Elizabeta's head to better expose the brown wolf's throat.

"WAIT!"

The silver wolf turned her head toward Lili with a look of annoyance.

"I-I'll go with you," Lili said as confidently as she could.

"No, Lili, wait-" Elizabeta's voice was cut off by Natalya placing a paw on her windpipe.

"You will come willingly?" she asked.

"Yes, if you promise to leave my friends alone."

No one said a word as the offer hovered in the air. Lili tried to hold the wolf's gaze, but her icy blue stare sent shivers of terror down Lili's spine.

"We will not kill your friends," Natalya agreed. She lifted her paw from Elizabeta's throat. With one quick motion, she tore a large piece out of the brown wolf's neck with her teeth. "But I didn't say anything about not hurting them."


	12. Chapter 12: Lili

The image of blood gushing from Elizabeta's neck still burned in Lili's mind as she walked through the forest. Natalya had shifted into her human form soon after she had finished with the brown wolf and proceeded to tie Lili's hands together with a strong rope. She had also produced a knife from the pocket of her simple blue dress and pressed it against Lili's back.

"I won't hesitate to kill you if I have to," she had said.

Lili didn't doubt it for one second. She wanted to run to Elizabeta and make sure she really wasn't dead, but had been forced to hurry across the border instead. They had been walking for some time, and the point of Natalya's blade had never left its spot on the small of Lili's back. She had been holding back tears for so long, but they now flowed freely. down her face. This part of the forest had more pine trees than that of Ludwig's pack, and the dense canopy of needles blocked enough sunlight to create the illusion of twilight. She felt the same terror she had felt the night she had been chased through the forest by Ludwig and his pack. But she was beginning to doubt if Ludwig really had been her pursuer. She had never bothered to ask him about that night.

"Walk any slower and I'll slip this knife between your ribs," Natalya threatened.

"S-sorry," Lili said with a trembling voice. Her captor really didn't deserve any politeness from her, but it was habit.

"Brother has wonderful plans for you."

Lili was surprised by how forthcoming Natalya was being. "Like what?"

"I can't tell you."

Then why bother saying anything at all, Lili wanted to ask. She kept her mouth shut though, and focused on not tripping over the large branches that littered the needle covered ground. The short conversation had given her the resolve to be strong. She wasn't going to let this pack get away with abducting her and hurting her friends. No matter how difficult or scary her situation would become, Lili was determined to be brave, and the tears stopped rolling down her cheeks.

They stepped into a wide clearing with a large pit in the middle for lighting fires. Makeshift lean-tos and tents had been built against some of the thicker trees, but they appeared as if they might fall apart at any moment. The thing that disturbed Lili the most was something that looked like a large wooden cage that sat beside the largest tent. There wasn't anything inside of it, but she didn't think it would stay that way for long.

As soon as they left the forest behind, several wolves stepped out of the ramshackle shelters and watched their approach. Natalya stepped ahead of Lili as she slipped her knife back into her pocket. She stood next to a shy looking wolf with fur the color of tarnished brass. They kept a close eye on Lili as she waited for something to happen. Something had to happen now that she was in the enemy's camp. She wasn't brought here for nothing.

"Oh good. It looks like my plan has succeeded." A man even taller than Ludwig in his human form stepped out from the large tent and smiled innocently, but Lili could tell he was anything but. He had sandy hair that was neither silver, blonde, or brown and wore a long scarf wrapped several times around his neck. It was the only article of clothing he wore that really stood out. "Welcome to our home. I hope you like it because you will be here for a very long time."

"W-why am I-I here?" Lili asked as her trembling grew worse. There was something about this man that made her fear for her very life. His smile sent chills down her spine, and his brilliantly violet eyes pierced her to her soul.

"Ah, it is funny you should ask," he said with a small laugh. "Does anyone want to explain?" He looked around to the rest of his pack, but no one would meet him in the eyes. "No? It seems I must do everything here myself," he muttered darkly. "I am sure you know about that horrible treaty that allows us to run freely only on the nights of the full moon."

Lili nodded, afraid that not reacting would bring about some unpleasant retribution.

"We are tired of the conditions the humans have forced upon us. We wish to roam free whenever we choose. That is why we are going to eliminate everyone who stands in our way, including Ludwig and his group of cowards." The malice in his voice was unmistakable. "Then we will have control of this forest and the humans. We will no longer have to live like rats in this part of the forest where nothing grows. I tried to catch you myself, but that meddlesome Ludwig got in the way. I'm sure you remember that night." His smile widened. "It was unfortunate that I could not have you then, but we have been watching you for some time, and now you are mine. Revenge is a wonderful thing, yes?"

There was nothing Lili could say to express her horror. He had been the one chasing her through the forest, and Ludwig had saved her. Her feelings for the blonde alpha swelled inside of her frantic heart. How she wished he was there to save her again. She watched tongue tied as the man transformed into a wolf that was much bigger than the others. The top of his sandy head was probably taller than the tips of Ludwig's wolf ears. His eyes gleamed with amusement at the terror and shock so evident in her face. He turned to address the other wolves of his pack. Clearly, he was the alpha male.

"Toris. Eduard. You two make sure she gets in that cage. If anything happens, it will be you two who will live to regret it."

A dark brown wolf with shaggy fur and a wolf with fur the color of dirty straw both tensed before moving quickly to Lili's side. They ushered her toward the wooden cage with urgency, like the sooner she was locked up, the sooner they could escape the purple eyes that followed them unblinkingly. Lili didn't try to resist as they led her to the cage. She didn't stand a chance of escaping, so there was no point in her doing something stupid. The brown wolf, Toris, shifted back into a human so he could swing the door of the cage open.

"I'm sorry," he whispered so quietly that Lili wasn't sure if she heard it or not. But he truly did look apologetic as he closed the cage door behind her, his green eyes full of regret. "I-it's all locked up, Ivan," he said to the large wolf. He stepped aside so the thick padlock on the door was visible.

"Good, now the fun can begin." Ivan paused for a moment and looked carefully at each member of his pack. "Where's Ravis?"

"Y-you sent him with Natalya to be the distraction," the other wolf, Eduard, said nervously.

Ivan looked to the small girl with platinum hair. She tugged at the blue bow in her hair, but didn't seem particularly concerned about the missing pack member. "He never showed up."

"Then the imbecile got caught," the alpha deduced. He didn't seem all too worried either. "It is no great loss to us. The plan will continue regardless."

Lili gathered up the last of her courage and looked Ivan straight in the eyes. "L-Ludwig will stop you."

He wasn't bothered by her statement at all. "But that is why you are here, little one. You must be very important to him if he kept you alive for so long. That is why he would not dare to do anything that would put me in the unfortunate position of harming you." Ivan strode closer to the cage, violet eyes gleaming. "I assume the humans that have been spending an unusually large amount of time in the forest are also looking for you. With just the right incentive, they will be hunting Ludwig's pack and doing all of the work for us." He was close enough now that Lili could feel his warm breath. "And then we will kill you."


	13. Chapter 13: Ludwig

Nervous anxiety churned in Ludwig's stomach as he waited for the patrol group to return. He had suggested Lili go with them, but he didn't realize he would be so uneasy about it. They had been gone an awfully long time, haven't they? Maybe he was just overreacting. It was true that he felt very protective of the girl ever since they had shared a kiss, actually several kisses, in the field of moonlilies. Even more protective than he had before. He couldn't help pacing around the clearing to relieve himself of his nervous energy.

"Just relax, West," Gilbert called. He was lying in the shade to stay cool. "They'll back soon. Lizzie's with them, so what could go wrong?"

Ludwig wanted to be as calm as his brother, but it didn't seem possible at the moment. "It's been too long," he muttered under his breath.

His brother could still hear him due to his sensitive wolf hearing. "Don't make me beat you up, West. It's not going to be pretty."

It would have been laughable to think Gilbert could win in a fight if they were both in their wolf or human forms, but with Ludwig currently in his human form and Gilbert as a wolf, the elder brother might actually stand a chance. Ludwig really wasn't in the mood for a tussle, so he quit pacing before his brother could get any more ideas. Just as he did so, Feliciano and Lovino entered the clearing with freshly caught prey in their mouths.

"Where is everyone?" Feliciano asked.

"Still on patrol," the alpha answered.

The small brown wolf looked concerned and set down his kill. "Still? It seems like they've been gone a long time. Didn't Lili go with them?"

Feliciano's unease only helped to increase Ludwig's anxiety. It would seem that he wasn't the only one who thought they had been gone for too long. Maybe he should send a group after them, just in case. He was about to do so when Antonio appeared from the brush in his human form dragging a young boy behind him.

Lovino stared at the two with exasperation. "You're not supposed to bring the enemy here, you stupid bastard," he growled at the curly haired man.

"Sorry, sorry," Antonio apologized with a smile. "It's just that I caught this guy sneaking around the border, but he won't tell me what he was up to. I thought maybe Ludwig could knock a little sense in him, if you know what I mean." He glanced around the clearing, and his smile faded. "Where's Elizabeta and Lili? They're not back yet?"

A block of cold, hard lead seemed to settle in the pit of Ludwig's stomach. "Why aren't they with you?"

"We got separated when I went to chase this little guy here. I thought they would just come back to the cave since I took so long but…" Antonio trailed off leaving a heavy silence over the group.

"Tell us what you know, you snot-faced brat!" Gilbert growled menacingly as he grabbed the young boy by the collar of his plain red shirt. He had changed back into his human form, and anger in his voice was unmistakable. "If you want to keep that face of yours, you're going to tell us what's going on."

"I-I c-can't!" the boy stuttered out. "I-Ivan would k-kill me…"

"So you really are part of Ivan's pack of lowlives, eh? Tell us what happened to Lizzie or I'll make you regret ever being born!"

"I-I don't k-know what happened t-to the other one! W-we just wanted t-the human!"

"Cut the crap already!"

"Enough, brother," Ludwig said. He felt just as panicky as Gilbert, but as alpha he needed to maintain his composure. "You can do this the easy way, or the hard way," he said to the boy, who now looked like he was on the verge of tears. "Why don't you start by telling us your name."

"I-I'm Ravis, sir."

"Okay, Ravis, tell us what you were doing on our side of the border."

"I-I can't t-tell you that..."

Ludwig cracked his knuckles.

"We were scouting out your territory and waiting for your patrol, sir!" Ravis practically shouted. "We were supposed to only engage you if the human girl was with you! I was designated decoy while Natalya was supposed to get the girl, sir!"

"And why do you need Lili?"

"I'm n-not supposed to say..."

Ludwig grabbed a handful of the boy's curly blonde hair.

"Ivan needs her to turn the humans against you!"

Silence filled the air. Even the birds in the trees seemed to sense the gravity of the situation and ceased their chatter. Expressions of shock and disbelief appeared on everyone's faces except for Ludwig and Ravis. They continued to stare at each other. The former trying to figure out what Ivan was up to, and the latter hoping to not have his face smashed in. The rest of the pack began to shake off their stupor and shared grim expressions. It was no stretch of the imagination to figure out the implications of what Ravis had said. Ivan was planning to take over everything.

"We need to find Elizabeta," Ludwig said in a low, controlled voice. "We don't know if Lili was taken, so they might be hiding somewhere together." He looked at Antonio. "Can you take us to where she was?"

"Yeah, it was right on the eastern border."

"You and Gilbert are coming with me. The rest of you are going to stay behind until we get back." The alpha looked at Feliciano and Lovino. "Don't let him get away," he said indicating Ravis. "And don't do anything rash. Just stay here and watch the cave."

"Be careful!" Feliciano called as the three in the search party took off for the forest.

Ludwig transformed mid-stride and followed Antonio as they ran at full speed through the shade. Gilbert ran close behind, a look of determination on his face. They didn't slow for anything and jumped straight over any obstacles in their way. Ludwig felt his heart pounding in his ears. He concentrated on running so he wouldn't think about Lili being gone. No, she might still be okay. There was a chance that she and Elizabeta had gotten away. He held onto that glimmer of hope to keep from going crazy.

"It's just up ahead," Antonio said. "We should be there any-"

They weren't expecting what awaited them.

Large gouges had been made in the earth to indicate that some kind of struggle had taken place,and loose bits of fur blew through the air every time a breeze disturbed the area. The worst part was the blood. There was so much blood that Ludwig had a hard time believing that whatever had been bleeding could still be alive. A large pool of the crimson liquid had soaked the ground in one spot, but there wasn't a body anywhere to be seen. The only clue that had been left was a trail leading toward the shared border with Ivan's pack. No one said a word for the longest time.

"This isn't…...this can't...it's not…" Gilbert stumbled forward as if in a daze. He tentatively sniffed a large clump of fur and recoiled as if struck. "Lizzie." He shot off in the direction of the blood trail.

"Brother!"

The two other wolves followed behind as quickly as they could while making sure not to step in any of the gore. Ludwig wrinkled his nose against the strong odor of blood and instead focused on following his brother. Nothing could be seen of him except for the occasional flash of white through the brush. It was impossible to follow the white wolf by smell due to the lingering stench of blood, which seemed to be growing stronger with each passing minute. They broke through a thick patch of bushes to see him sniffing something on the ground.

"Please, no. Please. Lizzie, open your eyes. C'mon! Wake up Liz. I need you." Gilbert prodded the unmoving form with his snout, which came away covered in blood.

Ludwig stepped forward to see Elizabeta's unconscious form sprawled out on the ground. She had reverted back to her human form and had a deep bite wound in her neck. It seemed to be healing already, but it still looked awful. Vivid splashes of blood covered her neck, face, and clothing, and a thin trail trickled out of her mouth. The one thing that didn't make the situation completely hopeless was the steady, but shallow rise and fall of her chest. As long as she was breathing, she would live. Werewolves could survive almost any injury as long as they weren't dead.

"She's going to be okay," Ludwig said to his brother.

"I want to know who did this to her," the white wolf growled. "I want them to suffer the same way she did."

"The important thing is that she's alive. Revenge is never the answer, brother."

"Aren't you worried about Lili at all? If this is what they did to Lizzie, imagine what they'll do to her!"

His brother's words cut into his heart like a knife. Ludwig had been so shocked by the blood that he had forgotten about Lili. If she wasn't here, that meant that Ivan had her now. He tried not to think about it that way. Maybe she had escaped after all. There was no knowing for sure until Elizabeta woke up.

Some kind of cough or gurgle came from her as her eyelids fluttered. Gilbert licked her face gently as she struggled into consciousness. "Gil...bert…?" she rasped. Her voice came out sounding like a tired wheeze. "I…coud...n't...win."

"It's okay, baby, it's okay," he murmured. "Don't talk. You need to rest."

"I'm...sorry. I tried...my….best…" Ludwig's blood turned to ice as Elizabeta continued to talk. "They…took...her. Li...li...she's…...gone…"


	14. Chapter 14: Vash

He couldn't breathe. Every part of his body screamed for him to do something. Pull the trigger, run away, scream, anything was better than doing nothing. Vash watched the beast with wide eyes as it stepped a little closer. This couldn't be happening, could it? It wasn't the full moon. It wasn't even night for that matter. How could this werewolf be walking into his camp as if it was just out for a morning stroll? It shouldn't be possible.

Vash tightened his grip on the rifle in his hands. He had jumped to his feet and aimed as soon as he heard the forest creature, but this was not what he had been expecting. "Is this real?"

"W-wha…?" Alfred gave him a strange look as he gaped at the wolf.

"Is this real? Just answer me Jones, is this real?"

"Y-yeah...I think so…" He didn't sound very sure.

The search party had decided to set up a small camp as their base of operations. They had searched as far as they could walk in one day for the last few weeks, so now they were spending the night in the forest to increase their range. Their objective was to find anything that hinted at the location of the werewolves. An animal carcass, loose fur, even a body. Vash didn't want to think about the possibility of finding Lili's torn and mangled body, but it was better than never finding her at all. That was what they had been doing for the past few days until the creature had appeared. No one moved or made a sound, too shocked by its sudden appearance to do anything else.

The wolf used that to its advantage. "Greetings," it said in a soft voice. "My name is Toris, and I have a message for you from my leader."

His voice seemed to break the men out of their trance, and they all jumped to their feet at the same time, weapons poised to strike. The only reason they didn't attack was for the same reason they had jumped in the first place. It was obvious the wolf had something to say, and they were curious to hear it. Everyone but Vash. He couldn't care less about what the wolf had to say. His sister was gone, and no amount of talking could ever change that.

"We're not here to talk with you, beast," Vash growled. He aimed his gun at the creature's heart. "You better run if you value your life."

He pulled the trigger, but the wolf danced out of the way of the bullet, which lodged itself harmlessly into a tree trunk. "P-please wait!"

"I don't have to listen to you! It's because of your kind that my sister is gone!" Vash pulled out a loaded pistol and shot again. Toris barely managed to move his tail to avoid having it blown off. "I'll hunt down every last one of you!"

The others finally seemed to grasp what was going on. The camp echoed with clicks as the men cocked their guns. Kiku raised his sword into an offensive position, and the others took aim. Their confidence was high. At seven to one, the odds were definitely stacked in their favor. Vash reloaded his rifle with the fervor of a madman and aimed again.

"Any last words?" he asked as his finger curled around the trigger.

"Your sister is alive!"

Vash's eyes grew wide. He lowered the gun from his shoulder and stared in disbelief. "She's...alive?"

"Yes! Yes! We have her at our home. She's just fine, I promise."

Vash wanted to believe him. With all his heart, he wanted it to be true. But the word of a werewolf was not to be trusted. "How do we know you're not lying?" He raised his weapon up into firing position.

"I-I swear I'm telling the truth. That's why I came here alone to tell you," the wolf explained. "Here, see?" Before their very eyes, Toris shrank down in size until he was a young man with green eyes and shoulder length brown hair. It would have been impossible to tell that he was a werewolf if they hadn't seen him transform. "I don't want any trouble."

"Then you shouldn't have taken my sister!" Vash shouted, his gun still aimed at Toris.

"Vash, I think we should listen to him," Francis said in a low voice.

"For once I agree with this frog," Arthur added.

They had both lowered their guns, and so had the others in the group. Everyone stared at Vash as he wrestled with what to do. He wanted revenge. He wanted to make them pay for having taken his sister from him, but if she was alive, he wanted her back.

"Where is she?" he muttered.

"In the eastern part of the forest."

"Bring us there."

"I'm afraid I can't do that." Toris paled noticeably when Vash reacted by tightening his grip on his rifle. "B-but we will give her back to you on one condition."

"And what condition is that?"

The young man glanced around at the search party nervously. "You have to kill the other werewolves."

Vash finally lowered his weapon with a look of confusion and surprise. "Other werewolves?"

"There are two different groups of us," Toris began to explain. "My group lives in the east, and the other group lives here in the south. My leader wants you to kill the other group, and then he'll give you your sister back. It's very simple."

"Why doesn't he do it himself?"

"We're, uh...not very strong, you see, so we need your help."

Vash felt anger boiling in his blood. "So you kidnapped my sister?!"

"N-no!" Toris exclaimed. "We rescued her from the other group. They were holding her captive. They're very bad! That's why my leader wants them gone."

"And what if we don't help you?"

"Then they'll kill you. They're not tolerant of trespassers in their territory."

It wasn't an easy choice to make, but it was at the same time. Vash very much wanted to hurt the ones that had taken his sister. And if he got Lili back in the process, all the better. The only down side was getting the other men from the village involved. Would they want to do it? He couldn't attack a whole pack of werewolves on his own, even if he was the best shot in all of Schattenwald.

"I can't force anyone to come with me," he said, deciding to do it even if he had to go alone.

"Of course we'll come." Roderich stepped forward much to everyone's surprise. "We all know Lili, and it would be shameful to turn our backs on her now." He did his best to look confident, but it was obvious he was scared. Absolutely terrified.

"I agree," Kiku said with a nod in Vash's direction. "We must try."

"Yay! I can be the hero!" Alfred shouted with is usual enthusiasm. "HAHAHA! I'm going to kick some wolf butt!"

"Well you can count me out." Everyone turned to look at Arthur, who had his arms crossed defiantly. "I'm not going to get myself killed on a stupid whim."

"Don't be that way," Francis chided. He prodded the other man with a finger. "If you don't come, everyone's going to say you're all eyebrows and no courage."

"What?!"

"It's okay. We don't want you anyway. You're not fabulous enough to come."

"Why you! I ought to rip out those bloody chin hairs of yours! I'm coming and there's nothing you can do about it!" Arthur shouted.

"Magnifique," Francis said with a playful wink. It became clear that he had been goading Arthur into coming all along, and for that Vash was grateful.

He looked at the young man, who was watching the whole scene with a distant curiosity. "We'll do it," he informed him.

"Oh good! I'll let my leader know right away. Come to the eastern part of the forest when you're done." Toris gave them a tight smile before disappearing back into the shadows as mysteriously as he had come.

They were going to wait until the next morning to begin planning their attack. Now that they knew the werewolves could transform at any time, engaging them at night would put Vash and his men at a huge disadvantage. They needed to find an open place where they would have the best visibility and escape routes in case things didn't work out. Kiku and Yao found such a place during a scouting trip several days later. It was a large meadow full of wildflowers and berry bushes. They would have enough cover there behind the bushes, and could flee in any direction if they had to. It was perfect. Now all Vash had to do was lure the werewolves there.

That turned out to be easier than he imagined. The sun was setting on the fourth day since Toris visited their camp. They had moved their camp to the meadow to make sure they wouldn't be ambushed by surprise, and this proved to work to their advantage as they saw a large form running toward them in the fading light. There was general chaos as everyone reached for their guns and took up their attack positions.

Vash didn't bother to take shelter. He wanted the first kill, and the large wolf was an easy target. It's golden fur stood out in sharp contrast from the grass around it as it came closer and closer. Vash waited patiently. He knew he would be more accurate the closer the werewolf was. His thumb pulled back the hammer of his rifle, and he raised it to take aim. The wolf didn't even slow at the sight of the weapon.

A loud bang echoed around the meadow as the last of the sunlight died away. The wolf had dodged the bullet, but not completely. Red blood ran down it's flank where the bullet had grazed it, but the beast did not slow its pace. It continued to barrel straight toward Vash. He reloaded the gun with deft hands and fired again. This time the wolf was too slow. The bullet buried itself in the wolf's wide chest. The others also began to shoot, but the beast didn't bother to dodge any the shots. Hot metal bit into its back, shoulders, and legs. One bullet even opened a long gash across its muzzle.

Something wasn't right. Vash raised his hand to signal a ceasefire, and the puffs of gunpowder soon cleared from the air. Through an incredible feat of strength, the golden wolf was still standing, its chest heaving and its fur stained crimson with blood. Vash's eyes met with the beast's bright blue ones before it collapsed heavily to the ground. He knew it wasn't dead by the rising and falling of its massive chest, but he would change that soon enough.

He moved toward the beast's head and cocked his pistol. "Any last words?"

A low, rumbling voice emanated from the wolf. "Help…...have to...help…...save...Lili," it said. And then its eyes rolled back and it was very still.


	15. Chapter 15: Lili

Lili didn't know how many days had gone by since she had been locked in her cage. The thick weaving of pine branches over her head cast such a heavy shadow over everything that she could never tell if it was day or night. She slept when she felt tired, and ate when she was given food, which was not often. The wolves of Ivan's pack hardly ate themselves. Whatever prey they did bring back was skinny and often bland. Toris or Katyusha always brought her a little something to eat, but it was never enough. Katyusha was by far the kindest to Lili. She had introduced herself not long after Lili's imprisonment started, and always tried to say something encouraging.

"Here, I tried to get you a little more today," she whispered as she slipped some cooked rabbit meat and a small, twisted wild carrot through the bars of the cage.

"Thank you," Lili said as she eyed the food. It wasn't much, but her empty stomach wasn't going to protest. Anything was better than nothing. "Has Ravis come back yet?"

"No," Katyusha answered. Her cheery expression was replaced with one of worry. "It's been a long time, but Ivan won't let us look for him. But I'm sure he's just as worried as we are."

She was always defending the alpha male. It probably had to do with the fact that they were related. Katyusha was actually the oldest, but she had no authority over her large younger brother. Natalya was their younger sister, which made them a very strange set of siblings. It was easy to see how Ivan and Natalya were related, but Katyusha stood out like a sore thumb. Her blue eyes were vivid and expressive, and she almost always had a smile on her face. Natalya's hair lacked more color than her sister's, but Katyusha kept hers even shorter than Lili's. That didn't detract from her obvious femininity, but that might have had more to do with her well endowed figure than her hair.

"I'm sure he is," Lili said reassuringly. She didn't believe it for a moment, but she couldn't bear to upset Katyusha. They had formed a fragile friendship, and she didn't want to lose it no matter what. It was the only thing keeping her sane in this prison.

"I have to go. He doesn't like it if I spend too much time with you." Katyusha gave her an apologetic smile before rejoining the rest of her pack around the large bonfire they had built.

Werewolves don't technically have to cook their food to eat it, but Ivan almost always had a fire built in the pit designed just for that. Maybe it was a show of strength, but Lili really didn't know. Everything was so strange here compared to life with Ludwig's pack. Perhaps a week ago she would have thought it laughable to think life with Ludwig seemed normal, but now she wished everything would go back to normal. The normal she had grown to love with her pack.

Thinking about it wouldn't get her anywhere, so she turned to her food and began to eat. She had been taught to eat politely, but she had never been taught what the rule was for eating if her stomach felt like it was eating itself. She tried not to stuff the small bits of greasy meat into her mouth and almost never succeeded. As tasteless as it was, she still couldn't help herself from finishing every last bite. She even gnawed as much off the carrot top as she could, but it wasn't enough to keep her stomach from rumbling in complaint.

Lili began to think of her first day with Ludwig's pack. Feli had taken her to that small meadow full of flowers and berry bushes. Her mouth watered at the thought, and she wondered if the flowers were still in bloom. She curled up on the floor of her small cage and closed her eyes. If she tried hard enough, she could picture the meadow with the small stream cutting it into two halves. She could almost feel the cool water gliding over her dirty skin and taste the sun ripened blackberries on her parched tongue.

How she wished she would just slip into a deep sleep and escape from everything. She did doze off, but her dreams were so broken by occasional moments of wakefulness that Lili couldn't distinguish the difference between what was real and what wasn't. The sound of the crackling fire permeated throughout both her unconscious and conscious. It grew louder and softer until she couldn't tell if she was imagining it or not. She peeked through cracked eyelids to see what was happening, but there didn't seem to be anyone there. The next time she opened her eyes, there was so much commotion that she wasn't sure what she was actually seeing.

Blurred shaped darted through the brush around her cage, and others were running straight through the shaded clearing. Some were definitely wolves. Lili caught a glimpse of Ivan's large form locked in fierce combat with what could only be described as a flash of white. She didn't know who was winning, but that didn't seem to be the most pressing issue at the moment. Loud bangs and rumbles filled the air, but Lili couldn't determine what the source was. The air vibrated with sound and thickened with humidity and smoke. A large object was thrown into the fire, and sparks flew everywhere. Lili watched through a haze as the makeshift shelters, tree branches, the bars of her wooden cage, and even the forest floor itself ignited in a red blaze. It was all too much, so she closed her eyes to make it go away.

When she opened them again, the chaos was gone. Everything was quiet around her as if the insanity and destruction she had witnessed had been a fleeting dream. Maybe it was. Or maybe this was the dream. Lili really didn't know. She sat up to find the door of her cage missing. It wasn't open, it was just gone. She had to shield her eyes from the sunlight streaming through the branches above her head. It seemed like an eternity since the last time she had felt the warmth of the sun on her skin. Lili held up a hand and watched in wonder as the patches of sunlight danced against its smooth surface.

"Lili."

Her heart skipped at the sound of the deep voice. She would have recognized it anywhere. "Ludwig!" she exclaimed joyfully. She turned to look, but there was no one there.

"Lili."

This time it came from behind her. She turned, but again there was no one there. "Ludwig? Ludwig, where are you?"

"Lili"

She gasped when she looked for the third time and saw the golden wolf standing in front of her open cage. "Ludwig!" She ran to him and threw her arms around his neck. "I was so scared. I was worried you wouldn't come."

"We have to leave."

"Okay." Lili wiped away the happy tears from her eyes and climbed onto the alpha's broad shoulders. "Where are we going?"

"Somewhere safe."

She wanted to tell him that she was safe as long as he was there, but the words wouldn't come out. Her limbs grew tired and weak, and she slumped down over his neck, barely able to hang on. Fear gripped her heart as her eyelids grew heavy. What was happening? Where was Ludwig taking her? Something didn't feel right. She wanted to get off, but her arms and legs refused to move the way she wanted them to.

"Quit squirming, dang it!"

Everything was starting to grow dark, including Ludwig's fur. Something cold and wet was falling from the sky and stung Lili's face. She wanted to tell Ludwig to slow down, but she still couldn't find her voice. He seemed to stumble for a moment, but did not ease his fast pace. If anything, he ran even faster than he did before. A blinding flash illuminated the sky with light followed almost immediately with a deep, earth-shattering boom exploding high above their heads. Lili realized at once that they were running through the forest in the middle of a thunderstorm.

"Wha...Lud…...Lud...wig…" She still could not make her mouth work they way she wanted. Instead she tried to grab a handful of his damp fur.

"Ouch! What do you think you're doing?! I'm on your fricken side! Stop moving around like an idiot and just hold st-"

They were struck from behind so hard that Lili went flying. She landed on the wet ground with a thud and rolled several times before coming to a stop. Her body screamed out in pain, but her mind hardly registered it. Cold rain fell from the dark heavens and chilled her down to her very soul. She felt oddly empty inside as she waited for something to happen. She didn't have to wait too long because something prodded her in the back.

"Who gave you permission run away, little one?"

Lili didn't have the strength to move. Even breathing took a significant amount of effort. She allowed her eyes to slip shut and wished they would never open.


	16. Chapter 16: Ludwig

Everything was blurred and disjointed around him, but the pain was always crystal clear. It started out as acute pinpricks of pain all over his body, but they soon faded into a dull ache that only really bothered him when he tried to move. He found out pretty early on that moving was a bad idea. A low groan rumbled in his chest every time he was bumped or mishandled. Why was he being carried? He wasn't quite sure. It was difficult to think about these things clearly because his head felt like to was going to split in half.

There was one thought that kept nagging at him, but he couldn't remember what it was. Somehow he knew that it was important for him to remember what it was. It was a matter of life and death, he seemed to recall. Someone, somewhere, was in trouble, and it was his job to find her. Her? Why did he think it was a her? That reminded him. Someplace beyond the darkness he saw was his real life with people he cared about and responsibilities that had to be met. He tried to open his eyes, but they seemed to be stuck. He had to get them open. Why? For her. Who?

Lili.

Ludwig sat up with a start and immediately winced at the pain in his side. White bandages had been wrapped around his bare torso and arms. There was even one stuck to his face. Gingerly, he touched his side and hissed. Werewolves healed quickly, but some wounds still took longer than others. He heard footsteps and turned to see who it was. Gilbert walked toward him with a combination of urgency and relief. The lines of worry in his face eased a little when he saw his brother watching him.

"You're awake!" he exclaimed. "For a while there we thought you weren't gonna make it."

"Why? What happened?"

Gilbert thought about what to say for a moment. "What do you remember, West?"

What did he remember? Ludwig thought back to what had happened. He remembered running through the forest toward the group of humans that were slowly getting closer to the cave. Everyone had tried to talk him out of it, but he wasn't going to be dissuaded. Deep down he knew that their only chance of getting Lili back was to gain the support of the humans. It was easier said than done. The moment he cleared the trees, they were firing at him. His last clear memory was collapsing in front of a stern looking man as the world went black.

"I found them," was all Ludwig said.

"Yeah, we know." Gilbert sighed and kicked a small rock with his foot. "They're here."

"What?!" Ludwig tried to stand, but his injured body strongly protested.

"We followed you to their camp, but it was already too late. I don't know what you said to them, West, but they insisted on helping you even though they're the ones who shot you full of lead. One of them even started pulling out weird herbal medicine." Gilbert looked back toward the entrance of the cave. "I don't know about this, West. I don't like it."

"Have they said anything about being in contact with Ivan's pack?"

Gilbert turned back to his brother and sighed again. "They're not exactly the most talkative."

"I'll talk to them," Ludwig said as he rose to his feet, this time successfully. The stiffness and pain in his muscles was starting to fade as he stretched them out. "There has to be a reason they didn't kill me when they had the chance." He started to walk away when his brother grabbed his arm.

"I know you want to save Lili, but you have to be careful," the elder brother warned. "What are we gonna do if you get yourself killed?"

There was a moment of silence. "It would be okay. The pack would listen to you."

"You know I don't want that." A tense minute passed as they contemplated what Gilbert meant by that. "That whole responsibility shtick isn't my thing," he said eventually with a forced air of lightheartedness. "Just don't do anything dumb, okay? She wouldn't want that you know." He let go of Ludwig's arm.

The alpha continued on his way without another word. It wasn't the first time he and his brother had discussed leadership within the pack, but the results were always similar. Ludwig stepped out into the dark clearing and saw two different fires had been built to ward off the evening chill. One was surrounded by his pack in their human forms, and the other surrounded by the humans. He moved toward the one with the villagers from Schattenwald huddled around in a tight, untrusting circle. They shifted away from him as he came closer.

"Thank you for sparing my life," Ludwig said solemnly.

"We didn't do it for you."

The same stern looking young man from the meadow sat at the head of the fire and glared with such deep dislike that Ludwig had to fight the urge to take a step back. He took a better look at the man and almost gasped. That style of blonde hair and that shade of green eyes were so familiar that he might have mistaken them for Lili's at a distance. Being as close as he was, Ludwig could see the permanent fixture of a scowl on the man's face that looked nothing like the young girl he thought so dearly of.

"You're her brother."

"How do you know that?" the man growled.

"She talked about you."

The young man narrowed his eyes. "Did you force her to tell you all of her secrets? Did you torture her until she talked?"

"No!" Ludwig said forcefully. "We're not monsters!"

"That's not what the other werewolf said!"

A sickening feeling settled in Ludwig stomach. If they had been contacted by one of Ivan's lackeys, then the rival alpha's plan was already in motion. "That other wolf was lying to you."

"How do I know you're all not lying to me?!" The man jumped to his feet.

"Because we want to get your sister back."

No one said another word. The humans gave each other nervous looks. A young man with a curl of hair hanging over his bespectacled face pointed at the other fire, and everyone turned to look. Ludwig's pack was watching the humans with grim determination written on their faces. It was clear to everyone that they were serious about getting Lili back.

"But you're the ones who took her," Lili's brother said, although he no longer sounded confident about it.

Ludwig motioned for his pack to join him as he sat in the human's circle. "Let me tell you what really happened that night."

Silence settled over the mixed group after Ludwig finished his story. The werewolves watched on as the humans tried to make heads or tails of the situation. Some shook their heads in disbelief, while others just stared blankly at the fire. The only one that seemed to be handling the situation well was Lili's brother, whom Ludwig had learned was named Vash.

"So what are they trying to gain from all of this?" he asked the alpha.

"My guess is that Ivan is trying to turn us against each other. That way he and his pack can take care of whoever is left after the battle is over." Ludwig's brows furrow together. "We can even go as far as saying he's planning to obtain complete dominance of the forest, which includes your village."

"We can't let him get away with that!" One of the humans stood up and faced the others. "We have to fight and save the day!"

"Sit down, Alfred," another one of the humans said with annoyance. This one had the largest eyebrows Ludwig had ever seen. "We can't go in without some kind of plan."

"We have a plan." Everyone turned to stare at Gilbert. He seemed to shrink under all the attention. "Er...well, Lizzie and I have a plan."

"We have to work together as a team," Elizabeta said to the group. "That's what Ludwig was after all along, right?" She looked toward the large man for support.

"Yes," he agreed. "Ivan thinks that we are fighting each other right now. He won't suspect an attack from a combined force, which is why we have to work together."

"Ai-yah! I don't know if I really understand this, aru, but it's worth a shot."

"Please don't say anything if you don't understand," scolded a short man next to the one that had spoken.

"You're always so cold, Kiku," the first man said with a defeated sigh.

"But how are we going to attack them all at once?" a man with shoulder length blonde hair asked. "I don't think they'll let us just waltz in there and surround them."

A prissy looking man adjusted his glasses. "Please don't deface the waltz by talking about it like that."

"We need a distraction," Ludwig concluded.

"I know!" The man named Alfred was on his feet again. "We'll throw Matthew at them!" He pointed to an empty seat beside his.

"There's nobody there, aru."

"Hwah?!" Alfred swung his head back and forth erratically in search for his brother.

"I'm over here," said a quiet voice. Everyone turned to look at the previously missing man.

"These guys are all idiots," Lovino mumbled under his breath.

"Be nice to them, Lovi," his brother scolded. "They're going to help us get Lili back."

"Yeah, I guess…"

"When will this attack take place?" Vash asked, ignoring all the nonsense.

Ludwig looked up toward the dark clouds that had gathered in the sky. "Tonight," he said. "We go tonight."


	17. Chapter 17: Ludwig

Hello there to all of my readers :) Thank you all for reading this far and being really supportive along the way. I just wanted to say that I will be going back to posting twice a week now that school is about to start soon, and I'm busy with getting ready to move. I might have to lower it to even once a week, but hopefully it won't come to that. Thank you for understanding, and I'll keep writing and posting more for you :D

* * *

It had taken some convincing to get the humans to ride on the wolves' backs once they transformed, but they seemed to enjoy it once they got moving. Feliciano carried the short one, Kiku, and his brother carried the other small one, Yao. Elizabeta carried the quiet one, Matthew. She didn't show any signs of discomfort even though she was carrying a grown man while still recovering from her own injuries. Antonio took Matthew's brother, Alfred, and Gilbert had the two squabbling ones, Arthur and Francis. That left Ludwig to carry Vash and the one that complained a lot named Roderich.

The only reason Ludwig suggested this mode of transportation was due to time. Humans were much too slow on their two legs, and even with some of them doubled up, the wolves could move much faster through the forest and quieter too. They were on the eastern side of the forest just as the clouds above them started to rumble with thunder. The cloud coverage would help hide them while they ambushed the camp, but it could prove to be problematic if it began to rain. Ludwig hoped it would not.

Ivan's lair came into sight sooner than they thought due to the large fire they had burning right in the middle. It was a stroke of luck that none of them had been anticipating. In the dim light cast by the fire, Ludwig could see the outlines of what looked like a cage in the distance. His heart ached as he thought of little Lili trapped in that cage. How long had it been since she was taken? The days all seemed to blur together into one continuous nightmare that he had lost count.

An angry growl lodged in his throat. "Remember the plan," he whispered. "Gilbert, you're up."

The white wolf broke through the bushes they were hiding behind while dragging a smaller wolf behind him by the scruff. All eyes were on him as he entered the enemy lair. Ludwig watched as Ivan padded out of the largest of the haphazard structures behind the fire with curiosity in his violet eyes. The large wolf approached Gilbert casually, but everyone was aware that things could change in the blink of an eye.

"How unusual to see you trespassing on our territory," Ivan said, almost with amusement.

"Like you're one to talk," Gilbert growled. He dragged the small wolf forward and practically threw him on the ground in front of the rival pack's alpha. "I'm here to make a deal, scumbag."

"Ravis!" someone near the fire shouted when they recognized the small, shivering wolf.

"I do not think I can make any deals with people who are so rude."

"Then you don't get your pack member back," Gilbert threatened.

Ivan just laughed darkly. "That is of no consequence to me. I can always make a new one just like him."

Ludwig felt Elizabeta grow tense next to him. For a moment, he thought she was going to break cover and go after the sandy wolf, but she didn't. Their trap would be sprung soon anyway. All they had to do was wait for the signal from Vash.

Just then, something howled from behind the camp, and Ivan's pack froze.

"Attack!" Ludwig roared as he and his pack leapt out of the bushes.

Vash and his men rushed into the light with their guns raised, the clearing now completely surrounded. Hysteria passed through the wolves being attacked, but Ivan didn't even flinch. He immediately turned on Gilbert and lunged at the white wolf's throat. Luckily, Ludwig tackled Ivan before he could make contact with his target. By then, shots were being fired and chaos ensued. Wolves tussled on the needle covered ground while others dodged the flying bullets. Ludwig got to his feet and looked for the cage.

He was about to run for it when something heavy landed on his back. "You don't get to touch my brother," a sinister voice hissed in his ear as he fell back down.

The other wolf sunk its fangs into his shoulder, and he cried out in pain. Normally a wolf bite would have been nothing, but Ludwig's wounds had yet to heal completely. Black spots danced in his vision as the pain grew worse. There was nothing he could do to shake off his attacker. Suddenly, the weight was gone, and Elizabeta was pushing him to his feet.

"I'll take care of her," she muttered venemously. "You go get Lili."

The silver wolf that had attacked Ludwig watched Elizabeta with a deep hatred in its eyes. Elizabeta growled before lunging at the other wolf. They tumbled away locked in combat. Ludwig searched through the darkness again for Lili's cage. Someone had thrown Antonio into the large fire and scattered burning wood across the clearing. That had caused the light to dim, but it grew brighter than ever as sparks lit up everything they touched. That included Lili's cage.

When Ludwig arrived at the cage, another wolf was already there. It was trying to put out the flames licking at the wooden bars, but its attempts were mostly unsuccessful. "No, no, no, no, no," the wolf murmured. "Lili? Please wake up! You have to move before the fire gets you! Lili?"

Ludwig pushed the wolf aside and clamped his teeth down on an unburnt section of the cage. He pulled with all his might until the door began to loosen. With one last heave, the door ripped off its leather hinges, and Ludwig threw it out of the way. Lili appeared to be unconscious at the bottom of the cage. He nudged her with his nose hoping to get some kind of reaction out of her. A whimper, or a moan, or a twitch of her hand. Anything.

"Lili," he called.

She didn't move.

"Lili!"

Still nothing.

"Lil-"

The air was knocked out of Ludwig's lungs as something sent him flying through the air. He landed on his shoulder and barked out in pain. Everything was so sore that he found it hard to get to his feet, his legs wobbling with the effort. Ivan panted nearby with a crazed grin on his face.

"So, you think you can come burn down my home, yes?," he asked. "Do you think you can do whatever you like and not pay for it? I will make you regret ever being alive."

They both sprang at each other simultaneously. Teeth flashed and blood flowed as they tore relentlessly into each other. Neither one of them allowing the other to get the upperhand. Ludwig dodged a particularly fast blow when he saw something in his peripheral vision. A wolf was cautiously approaching Lili's cage. It was Lovino.

"You're going to be the one who pays, Ivan," Ludwig growled.

"Do not think your love for that girl will save you."

Ludwig froze. What did Ivan just say? The large sandy wolf took advantage of his hesitation and knocked him off his feet. The world flipped upside down as Ludwig landed on his back, hard.

"This is not a fairytale, my friend. You do not win just because you-" Ivan paused as he looked back at the now empty cage. Lovino must have taken Lili because neither of them were anywhere to be seen. Without another word, Ivan took off for the forest.

Rain began to fall from the tumultuous, obsidian sky. Thunder rolled through the clouds and melted into the sound of gunshots. It all sounded so far away to Ludwig as he ran. He ran as if his life depended on it, which in a way it did. Lili was in danger. Even a swift, lithe wolf like Lovino was no match for the sheer strength Ivan possessed. If Ludwig didn't catch up to him soon, it may be too late.

Lightning tore through the sky and filled the forest with light and shadow. It was followed almost immediately by a earsplitting boom. Ludwig's paws scrabbled through the wet earth for traction as he continued his pursuit. There was no sign of Ivan, Lovino, or Lili, but he didn't let that bother him. As long as he didn't stop running, he would find one of them eventually. Another flash and another boom shook Ludwig's vision and caused him to stumble. He regained composure, and as he did so, he saw something that made his heart stop.

A large sandy wolf had its teeth sunk into the shoulder of a small girl with blonde hair.

Ludwig's vision became tinged with red. His blood felt like fire in his veins, and a pained bark flew from between his bared teeth as he charged. Ivan barely registered the other alpha's presence before Ludwig snapped down on his neck. The sandy wolf released Lili's arm with a grunt of annoyance. He rolled onto his back with so much force that it flung Ludwig clear of the wolf and knocked the air out of his chest. Ludwig rose to his feet with a shakey wheeze and glared at Ivan with intense disgust. The other alpha male's scruff bristled aggressively, but he seemed to be smirking in amusement.

"Your feelings make you vulnerable," he said provocatively. "It would be a shame if you caused this girl any more harm." Ivan moved toward Lili's unconscious form and sniffed around her head. In a flash, he had his fangs pressed into her neck.

"Bastard!" Ludwig roared as he charged again.

"Take another step and I snap her neck."

Ludwig had no choice but to stop in his tracks. He bristled with rage and watched as Ivan released the girl's neck and prodded her cheek with his paw.

"It would be so much simpler if you made her one of us." Ivan tilted her head so that her lips parted ever so slightly. "Perhaps I will do you a favor and turn her for you. You obviously do not have the courage to do so."

"Don't you dare!" Ludwig hissed. He was about to jump toward the sandy wolf when a bang reverberated through the trees. At first, he thought it was more thunder, but Ivan stumbled, and Ludwig knew it must have been a gunshot.

"Get away from my sister." Vash stepped out of the darkness with his rifle raised, wisps of smoke still seeping out of the muzzle.

Ivan turned toward his new opponent with unmistakable rage burning in his eyes. "You dare to attack me?!" He tried to lunge at the human, but Vash let off another shot that hit the large wolf square in the chest.

Something caused the bushes to rustle, and Lovino appeared with a slight limp. His eyes went wide when he saw the scene before him. "Crap, what did I miss?"

"Take Lili and run!" Ludwig commanded. He shifted back into his human form to hoist the girl onto the brown wolf's back. "Make sure she gets to the village. We'll take care of Ivan."

"Yeah, yeah. I got it," Lovino said with a nod. He trotted into the wet underbrush as fast as his injured leg would take him. The two were out of sight in moments.

"Why do you help them?" Ivan croaked at Ludwig. Blood ran freely down his fur in dark rivulets from several gunshot wounds and teeth marks. "You will regret helping them. They will never see you as equals or allies. Your sentiment will be your undoing."

Ludwig pushed his hair out of his face. The rain had ruined his usual slicked back hairstyle, but now was not the time to worry about that. "That may be, but bearing grudges only fosters more hatred. The cycle will never be broken as long as we think like you, Ivan."

"You are weak," the sandy wolf growled. "You do not dare stand up to them. Together we can rid the forest of this human plague."

"The fight is over. It is pointless to continue to resist." Ludwig looked to Vash and back to Ivan. "Leave or the human will kill you, and I won't try to stop him."

"Wait!" Vash yelled, but Ivan had already turned and disappeared into the forest.

Rain still fell from the sky, but the storm seemed to be moving out. Thunder could only be heard in the distance and was faint compared to the sound of rain pattering on leaves. Ludwig let the water wash away his fatigue. This battle was over, but he knew it was not the end of the conflicts that seemed to haunt this forest continually. Not even close.


	18. Chapter 18: Lili

A bright light colored the back of Lili's eyelids red, and she rolled onto her side to avoid the harsh shine. Something soft rustled around her as she moved. That was odd, but she tried not to think about it too hard. Her life had been anything but normal lately, so she shouldn't be too concerned about the fact that she seemed to be sleeping in her own bed for the first time in weeks. Or should she?

Her eyes flew open at once, and she sat up with a start. How was this possible? It really was her bed nestled in the corner of her room. Nothing had changed at all since the last time she had been there. Her books were lined neatly on a small shelf over her wooden desk, and her bureau stood stoutly near the foot of her bed. Even the window was still the way she had left it; open with the drapes fluttering in the slight breeze. Lili swung her legs over the edge of the bed and realized she was wearing a nightgown. Someone had changed her clothes while she was asleep.

The door to her room swung open, and Vash stepped in. His eyes went wide when he saw her. "Lili! You're awake!"

"Good morning, brother," she replied with a pleasant smile.

"Thank God." Vash hurried forward and enveloped his sister in a warm hug. "Thank God. Thank God," he murmured over and over into her hair.

"It's okay. I'm okay," Lili said reassuringly. It was unusual for her brother to be so openly affectionate, but she didn't care. Tears were beginning to form around her eyes. "I m-missed you so much."

Her brother suddenly let go and quickly stepped back, his face a mixture of both relief and unspoken tension. "How are you feeling?"

"Much better." She smiled again. "I don't really remember much, but…"

"I-I got you this," Vash said hastily, as if trying to distract her from what was really on both their minds. He held out a long purple ribbon. "The other one was dirty, so I got you a new one."

"Oh!" Lili exclaimed. She had forgotten how much she missed not wearing a ribbon in her hair. "Thank you." She quickly tied it in place with a feeling of contentment. Things were finally going back to the way they were, but there was still something that was nagging her. "How did I get here?"

Vash froze. It was subtle, but Lili definitely noticed how his entire body seemed to tense up. "They brought you here," he said in a low voice.

"They?"

"The werewolves."

Lili felt one knot in her stomach relax as another formed. Someone had made it out alive, but how many hadn't? "Where are they?"

"Well, there was actually only one who brought you here. I wasn't here when he arrived so I do-"

"Where is he?" Lili asked urgently. It was all starting to come back to her bit by bit. The fire. The storm. Ludwig. She had to see him.

"You can't see him."

A block of ice seemed to settle in her chest. "Why not?"

"They're keeping him locked up right now. You'll have to wait until-"

"Locked up?!" She covered her mouth with her hands. "Why? Why would they do that?"

Her brother never got the chance to answer because several people appeared in the doorway at once.

"Hey! Look who's up!" Alfred shouted happily. He waved a small bouquet of flowers.

"Shut up, you stupid git!" Arthur growled. "You shouldn't shout."

"H-hi." Matthew waved timidly. He had a small plush bear in his arms.

"Matthew and I are the only ones who should be allowed to see poor little Lili while she recovers." Francis pushed his way past the others and flipped his blonde hair. "The rest of you are just too noisy and bothersome."

"You want my fist in your face, frog?"

No one was expecting Lili to jump out of bed and run out of the room, so nobody did anything as she disappeared from sight. Several voices cried out behind her, but she didn't bother to stop for any of them, not even her brother. She had to see Ludwig. That's all that mattered in that moment. She had to make sure he was okay and do whatever she could to help him escape. Her feet carried her out of the house and into the open.

It had been a long time since she had last walked around Schattenwald, but nothing had changed. People greeted each other in the street and went about their lives as if nothing else mattered. She was stunned by just how ignorant all these people were, and even more appalled at the idea that she had been the same. A loud crash came from inside her brother's house. She needed to get moving before they forced her back into bed.

She picked one direction at random and began to run. Luckily, she was running toward the southern gate. That was probably her best bet at finding Ludwig since most of the horse stables were on that side of the village. Her bare feet ached as she ran over the uneven dirt road, and her sore body protested such vigorous movement, but she didn't stop. The smell of horses and manure grew stronger as she ran. It wouldn't be long until she saw the stables.

Only a few of the villagers owned horses, but Lili had gone past the stables enough to know what they looked like. She stared at the large building while catching her breath and wondered where to begin searching. It didn't make sense to keep a werewolf in with the other animals, so there had to be somewhere else nearby that was sturdy enough to shelter a werewolf, which was roughly the size of a horse. That was when Lili remembered the extra stall that wasn't attached to the rest of the stables. It was built to hold difficult horses or even sick animals whenever the need arose. That had to be where they were keeping him.

Lili ran to the back of the stables and saw what looked like a large, sturdy shed built right up against the walls encircling the village. She couldn't see what was inside from where she was standing, but there was no doubt that there was something inside. It moved slightly as she walked closer.

"Who's there? Look, I ain't gonna tell you nothing, so screw off!"

Her heart sank. It wasn't Ludwig inside the shed, but she did recognize that voice. "Lovino?"

"Eh? Oh, it's you." Feli's brother scooted into the light and grasped the iron bars of the door. "Looks like you're doing better. You were a real mess when I brought you here."

"You're the one who brought me here?

"Yeah, who'd you think it was?" He quirked an eyebrow at her. "You don't remember anything, do you?"

"It was...raining," Lili said in a daze. She remembered Ludwig's fur becoming dark as it got wet, but she now realized it must have looked that way because it was actually Lovino carrying her all along. "And then…" She touched her left shoulder as if checking for bite marks.

"You were in pretty bad shape," Lovino said with a sigh. "They were pretty freaked out when you wouldn't wake up, and I told them it was because of the bites. Humans don't react well with werewolf bites, but no one would listen to me. Nope, those stupid bastards just threw me in here to rot. Hardly ever feed me either. I can't even remember the last time I had a decent meal…"

"Wait…" Something wasn't right. His words weren't making any sense. "How long have you been in here?"

Lovino looked at her like she was crazy, but then he seemed to understand. An expression of almost pity came over him. "It's been over a week since we attacked Ivan's pack."

Lili stifled a gasp that threatened to take with it all the strength that she had. How had it been a week already? That would explain her brother's odd reaction to seeing her awake. "H-how…?"

"Werewolf bites are nothing for us since we heal fast," Lovino explained. "But they're like poison to humans. They take longer to heal and are super painful. You should be glad you slept through it all since you had so many. The only way to heal them quickly is to become a werewolf yourself, and since you were bit, you were already halfway there."

"Turn into...a werewolf?" It should have been such an obvious thing to think about, but the thought had never crossed Lili's mind before. "How do you become a werewolf?"

"What're you asking me stupid questions like that for? What? You wanna be a werewolf or something?"

"I'm just curious," she said, but that wasn't entirely the truth.

Lovino watched her closely, but she tried to keep her expression as innocent as possible. "Becoming a werewolf is a blood exchange. You drink the wolf's blood, and it drinks yours. It doesn't have to be a lot, but it doesn't work if you're the only one who drinks. You also have to do it around the same time. It won't work if it drinks your blood and you wait a few days before drinking its blood."

"So that's what happened to Elizabeta," Lili whispered.

"She told you about that?" Lovino asked in surprise. "Listen, girl. I don't know what you're up to, but it's better if you just don't get involved. Forget about all this and go home."

"I'm going to get you out," she told him as if she hadn't heard a thing he just said.

"You dumb or something? Get outta here already!"

"There has to be something I can do. You saved my life!"

His face froze in a mask of suppressed embarrassment. "You should worry more about yourself, idiot. I'll be fine."

Lili didn't know what to do. She knew she had to get Lovino out, but she didn't have the strength or knowhow to accomplish it. Instead, she gently placed her hand over one of Lovino's. "Thank you," she said softly.

"Don't mention it," Lovino muttered as his face turned a bright shade of red. "Seriously, don't mention it to anyone or I'll pound you."

Suddenly, they could hear voices calling in the distance, but they were growing closer with each passing moment. Lili suspected they were looking for her, so she didn't have much time left. There had to be something she could do.

"I'll think of something," she promised.

"I won't hold my breath," he replied. He stepped away from the door and out of sight just as someone showed up looking for Lili.

"Hey! There you are!" Alfred put his hand on her head and tousled her hair. "Where have you been?" He finally noticed the extra stall with Lovino inside. "Oh, you came to see the werewolf, huh? He might seem kinda cute, but he's totally dangerous! He bit me when he showed up with you. See?" Alfred held up his bandaged hand for her to see.

Lili was fairly certain that Lovino could hear every word the energetic man was saying and was probably fuming in the dark. It would have been funny if he wasn't trapped. She turned to leave without another word to either of them.

"Hey, wait! Where are you going?" Alfred called.

"Home," Lili said. "I think I need to lie down."


	19. Chapter 19: Lili

Despite the promise Lili had made to Lovino, finding a way to set him free proved to be more difficult than she had first expected. She couldn't ask any of the villagers about it without drawing suspicion, and she didn't know the first thing about picking locks. It was challenging enough just to sneak away and exchange a few words with the captured werewolf. Lili was at a complete loss.

She stared out her window at the small garden plot behind the house she shared with Vash. There were a few plants with the beginnings of vegetables growing on them, but the majority of the garden was taken up by delicate, blooming flowers. All of them currently had their petals closed tight as if warding off the crisp evening air, and Lili wished she had been successful in bringing home the moonlilies. Maybe some pixies would move into her garden too.

But now wasn't the time to be thinking about that. She had to find a way to help Lovino escape, the sooner the better. It had been a few days now since she had awoken, and every day that passed was a day wasted. The only thing that kept her from acting was the heavy lock on Lovino's stall door. There was no way Lili could pick or break the lock, and she didn't know the first place to begin looking for a key. A forlorn sigh escaped her lips. Maybe it was hopeless after all.

"Psst."

Lili jumped and looked around her garden, but there wasn't anyone there. She must have been so tense about Lovino's situation that she was imagining things.

"Psst. Lili. Lili, down here."

She leaned out her window and looked down. "Elizabeta?!"

"Shhhh! Not so loud," the woman whispered. "If they find me here, we'll both get in trouble."

"What are you doing here?" Lili asked.

"I'm supposed to be breaking Lovi out, but I can't find him. I'm sniffed all over this town and can't smell him anywhere. I thought maybe you would know where they're keeping him."

"How did you know where I lived?"

"I told you." Elizabeta pointed to her nose. "I was sniffing around for Lovi when I recognized your scent. Hard to pick out through all this human stench though," she said with a hint of disgust.

"I know where he is," Lili told Elizabeta. "I can take you there."

"Great, but we have to be fast. Being here gives me the creeps." The woman gave Roderich's house a fleeting glance, and Lili wondered what she was thinking about.

"I'll need a moment to change." Lili stepped away from the window and pulled open a drawer in her bureau. She grabbed a dress at random and put it on once she slipped out of her nightgown. Her shoes were by the front door, so she'd have to go without them for now. She returned to the window and carefully lowered herself outside. "Ready," she said slightly out of breath.

"Lead the way."

They snuck through the shadows behind other people's homes toward the southern gate. All the gates leading to Schattenwald were closed, and it just occurred to Lili that it was the night of the full moon. She wondered if Elizabeta had planned it that way, or if it was just a coincidence. A well concealed rock almost made her trip, so she decided to focus more on running and less on her own thoughts. They were almost to the stables.

"Well, this explains why I couldn't find him," Elizabeta explained as she covered her nose. They were sneaking toward the extra stall at the back of the stables when she started to retch. "This smell is awful! How can Lovi stand to be so close?"

It had never crossed Lili's mind that the smell of horse manure would be sickening to werewolves. Their smell was much sharper than hers, even in their human forms. She felt even guiltier for waiting so long. "He's in there," she whispered.

Elizabeta stepped forward and grabbed the lock on the stall door. "This should be easy enough." She was almost smirking, although her skin had a slight tint of green. Something flashed in her hand as she set to work tinkering with the lock. "Watch my back and make sure no one sees us. The last thing we need is for things to get messy…"

Lili did as she was told and stood watch as her heart thumped loudly in her chest. They weren't in much danger of being caught since most people didn't dare go outside on the night of the full moon, but she couldn't help but feel a little nervous. She wished that Elizabeta would work faster.

"Got it!" the woman hissed. She tossed the open lock down into the grass and swung the stall door open.

It was too dark to see well inside, but something stirred within. "Well it's about time, dumb broad. I thought you were never gonna get that thing open."

"Gee thanks," Elizabeta muttered. "I can just put it back on you know."

"That ain't funny!" Lovino scrambled out into the moonlight with a scowl etched deeply into his face. "I'm already pissed that it took you guys so freaking long to get me out of this dump."

"Sorry, Ludwig's orders. He didn't want us to break the treaty by coming on another night," Elizabeta said as she spun something around her finger. It was some sort of tool with a loop on the end and must have been what she used to pick the lock.

"The treaty's already broken, so why should he care?"

"Some people aren't aware that you broke the treaty, so he didn't want to make things worse than they already are."

"Wait." Lili looked between the two as her blood seemed to turn to ice. "The treaty's broken?"

"See what I mean?" Elizabeta stopped spinning her lockpick and looked Lili dead in the eyes. "Lovi broke the treaty by entering human territory when it wasn't the night of the full moon. I'm not going to sugarcoat this, so basically, he broke the only thing keeping the werewolves and humans from wiping each other out when he brought you here."

Words refused to form as Lili realized what had happened. With the treaty no longer effective, the forest was not safe for anyone anymore, human or werewolf. Ivan may have still gotten what he wanted all along.

"Maybe we could talk about this, I don't know, not here," Lovino suggested moodily. "If I don't get away from the smell of horse crap soon, I'm going to barf on one of you two."

"Fine." Elizabeta moved toward the south gate. "We can get out over here."

She led them to a large tree growing near the gate. It was high enough for it's branches to reach over the gate, and Lili spied what looked like a rope dangling over the wall. It was attached to the tree by some sort of grappling hook.

"Elizabeta's always collecting weird junk like that," Lovino said when he saw what she was looking at. "I can't say I ever thought it would come in handy."

Lili looked up at the tree and thought about the time she had gone climbing with Ludwig. This would be easy compared to that. She watched the other two climb easily up the tree but hesitated. Why should she go with them? She was finally home where, as a human, she belonged, so she should be happy. Yet there was a part of her that longed to go with them where there were no walls to hold her in. She wanted to feel the leaves crunch under her feet and smell the wind as it rustled the trees.

"Oh, that's right. I had something for you." Elizabeta started to shake out her hair. "Where the heck did that thing go?"

Something small and sparkling fell out of her hair and slowly floated down the tree toward Lili, who cupped her hands in anticipation of catching whatever it thing came closer, but didn't seem to get much bigger. It must have been small. It landed gently in her hands with a soft tinkling sound.

"A pixie?" Lili asked in surprise.

"Yeah, Ludwig wanted me to give it to you. He said you'd know what it meant." Elizabeta tried to smooth down her hair. "I didn't think those things liked us very much, but it seemed pretty happy when I told it I was going to find you."

Lili recognized the small creature in her hands. It was the red haired pixie. She twittered happily as soon as she regained her composure and flew around Lili's head.

"You want to take me somewhere?"

The pixie bounced up and down excitedly.

"Ludwig?!" Lili gasped.

The pixie practically squealed in delight.

"O-okay! I'm coming." Lili began climbing up the tree toward Elizabeta and Lovino. They shared a confused look as they waited for her to join them.

"Don't tell me you know what that thing was saying," Lovino said dubiously.

"Um...yes." Lili nodded.

"Huh." Elizabeta looked closely at the redheaded pixie perched lightly on Lili's shoulder. "What was it saying?"

A feeling of warmth spread through Lili's body and filled her with strength. "She said Ludwig is waiting."


	20. Chapter 20: Lili

Lili saw the bright glow of the moonlilies before she stepped out of the forest. The flowers gave off a silvery blue light that filled her with wonder and peace. It was almost as if the flowers were reflecting the light of the moon that they had been collecting in the weeks before. Lili brushed her fingertip carefully over a velvety petal and smiled. Maybe she could take some home with her, if she was going home at all.

Her gaze landed on a lone figure sitting in the middle of the flowers. The person sat motionless as pixies darted around his head. Lili's smile grew, and she found it difficult to not leap at Ludwig like an excited child. She took carefully measured steps toward him and tried to keep her heart from beating straight out of her chest. It had been so long since she had last seen him that her whole body longed to be closer to him. Just the thought was enough to send a shiver down her spine and raise goosebumps on her arms.

"Ludwig," she said so softly that it might have been the breeze drifting lazily over the meadow.

But he heard. Ludwig turned his head and was on his feet in the same motion. The next thing Lili knew, she was being crushed in his large, warm embrace with a flock of pixies swirling around them happily.

"I didn't know if I'd ever see you again," Ludwig mumbled into her hair.

"I would find a way." A big smile stretched across Lili's face, and grew even larger as she wrapped her arms around the alpha's broad chest. "You have flowers in your hair."

"What?!"

Ludwig pulled away and ran a hand through his blonde hair. A shower of tiny flowers rained down from his head in a colorful flurry. Lili couldn't hold in a laugh as she watched his expression change from confusion to embarrassment.

"It must have been the pixies," she told him, and the all of the little creatures within earshot tinkled in agreement. "I think they like you."

"I would never hear the end of it if brother saw me like that," Ludwig muttered. "Although it's better than being attacked every time I came close to this place."

Lili's smile fell. "They've been attacking you?"

"No, no, that was before," he said quickly. "Before you came...and changed everything."

She didn't know if he was still talking about the pixies or not, but it didn't really matter. Being with Ludwig made the aches and pains of the last month melt away as if they had never existed. His blue eyes held her completely captive with the depth of emotion within them. She didn't realize they were moving closer until their lips touched. Lili almost sighed as she was engulfed in the sensation of having Ludwig so close to her. She could smell his distinct pine and musk scent as she took a quick breath of air, and wished she could drown herself in everything that made Ludwig Ludwig. Their lips danced together in unison, and they couldn't have been pressed any closer to each other. They were made for each other, she just knew it.

"I want to be like you," Lili said when they broke to catch their breaths.

"I think you need to grow a little more for that, little pixie," he replied with a soft smile.

"No, I mean I want to be a werewolf like you."

Ludwig's smile slowly faded. He looked unsure whether he had heard her right. "You want to be a werewolf?"

"Yes. That way, I can stay with you." She pleaded silently with her eyes. "Please, Ludwig. I don't want to be a helpless little girl anymore."

"But it's the helpless little girl that I fell in love with." He covered his mouth and looked away immediately after the words were out of his mouth.

Lili was stunned. She didn't know what to say. On one hand she felt overjoyed, on the other she felt hurt and pathetic. Tears welled in her eyes, but she tried to blink them away the best that she could. "So you're saying you only love me because I'm weak?"

"What?!" Now it was Ludwig's turn to look stunned. His hands were gentle as he cupped Lili's face, but his eyes were intense and penetrating. "I love you for you, Lili. I don't care if you're human, werewolf, or one of these things." He pointed a finger at a random pixie, who fluttered away in a panic at the sudden movement. "What I meant is...you don't have to change for me. You're wonderful the way you are." He leaned in close and placed a kiss on her forehead.

She didn't know what to say to such an emotional confession. This whole night was so full of unexpected things that she didn't even realize what she was saying until she had already said it. "Oh Ludwig...I...I love you too." She hugged the alpha tightly and never wanted to let go.

"But if that's what you really want, then I can't stop you."

Lili looked up in surprise and saw the sincerity in his face. He didn't seem happy about it, but he wasn't lying either. "I do want this, and...I want it to be by you."

"All right, but on one condition."

She didn't know what to expect, but it couldn't be awful coming from Ludwig. "Okay."

He looked her unflinchingly straight in the eyes. "You have to promise to keep living with your brother."

"What?" That didn't make sense at all. The whole point of Lili becoming a werewolf was so that she wouldn't have to be apart from Ludwig.

"You can't just disappear again," he explained. "With the treaty broken, there's no stopping anyone from starting a war. You have to watch and make sure that doesn't happen until we get things back in order." His expression softened and he ran his fingers through her hair. "But speaking as a brother, I'm sure your brother would want to know where his sister went. When the time comes, you can join the pack. Until then, you should enjoy the time you have left with your brother."

Lili thought of Vash. She hadn't been thinking at all when she had blurted out her selfish wish. He would be heartbroken if she vanished again, and things were already unstable enough as it was between the humans and werewolves.

"Okay, I promise," she said.

Ludwig nodded. "I should probably tell you about the process then."

"Lovino already told me. I...um, asked."

Surprisingly, he laughed a low, rumbling laugh. "You've thought about this a lot, haven't you?"

"Yes, I guess I did." Lili felt a little more confident about her decision now.

"There's one more thing I should tell you. Turning someone into a werewolf creates a bond between the parent wolf and the child."

"Parent? Child?" Lovino hadn't said anything about that.

"Yes. Werewolves are made in one of two ways. They can be born like my brother and I," Ludwig said, "or they are made like Elizabeta. I take it you've heard that story already." Lili nodded. "In both cases, there is the parent wolf, and the child. Born werewolves like me do not form any special connections outside of the normal relationship of a mother and child, but turned wolves are a different story."

"A bond is forged between the two due to the exchange of blood, and the child is often made subject to the parent. There are stories of the time before the treaty where many werewolves who were unhappy with their stations in life tried to rise in power by creating packs of their own. The child wolves were all minions under the parent wolf's will, and the rivers ran red with all the blood shed between packs."

"H-how did Elizabeta…?" Lili found herself unable to finish her question. The image of wolves fighting to the death filled her mind and sent a shiver through her body.

"She did the only thing that she could. She killed her parent." Ludwig's expression turned dark. "Her parent was part of a different pack that was passing through at the time. We tried to get them out of this area as fast as possible, but not fast enough. They were wolves fromf a different time."

"Oh…" Lili began to wonder if she really wanted to go through with this.

"You don't have to worry about anything like that," he reassured her. "I'll be your parent, and you trust me. Right?"

"Yes. More than anyone."

Her confidence was starting to return as she looked into Ludwig's eyes. This was her first step toward their life together. It may not have been the life she had imagined for herself, but it was a life she felt happy in. Ludwig was her world, her bright sun and silvery moon. She was ready to do whatever it took to stay by his side, and she knew he felt the same. A smile tugged at her lips as Ludwig transformed into his wolf form, his fur shining in the light of the moonlilies.

"Ready?" he asked.

"I'm ready." Her new life was waiting. Lili held her breath as Ludwig's teeth sunk into her wrist. "I love you."


	21. Chapter 21: Lili

Hiding the fact that she was a werewolf was a lot harder than Lili thought it was going to be. She had to keep both her sensitive smell and hearing under close check, otherwise she might draw suspicion. There was more than one occasion that she almost answered someone's question, but then realized the person who asked it was not talking to her at all. In fact, the person was across the street from her and inside of a house. And on another occasion, she had almost asked Vash if they could stop at the bakery for fresh rye bread because the smell was driving her crazy. Then she remembered the bakery was on the other end of town and that there was no way she should be able to smell the bread from their house.

Other than those few disconcerting incidents, her secret was hidden well away and out of sight. No one knew except the other wolves in Ludwig's pack. On some nights she would find a way over the wall and join them for the moonlit romp in the forest. Feli had been overjoyed to see her, and Antonio would not stop apologizing for leaving her and Elizabeta alone on that fateful patrol.

Lili enjoyed every moment she spent with the pack. She breathed in the chill evening air and unraveled all the different scents with her quivering black nose. Sometimes she and Ludwig would go off on their own and see the various wonders the forest had to offer. They ran across glittering streams, skirted the shores of a lake, rose and fell with the hills and valleys, weaved between gargantuan trees, and chased prey from one end of the territory to the other. Once, they even stumbled upon something that looked like a large animal's burrow, but Ludwig had called it a goblin hole.

"They don't mind us," he told her. "We don't bother them, and they don't bother us."

Being a werewolf was better than she ever imagined it would be. There were no strange side-effects or telltale bits of fur poking out of her ears to give her secret away. Lili was happy having one foot in her human life, and one paw in her werewolf life. That way she could have all the people she loved around her, both werewolf and human. But she did feel guilty about not telling her brother the truth. It was true that she was always tired in the mornings because she had been up late the night before, and it was true that she wasn't coming down with an illness, but she still felt bad about not telling Vash everything. Maybe once everything was settled again between the werewolves and the humans, she could find the right time.

Things had been unusually quiet on the eastern side of the forest where Ivan and his pack were rebuilding what was left of their lair, or at least that's what everyone was assuming they were doing. No one had seen them for weeks, and their scents along the border were faint and stale. Lili could tell Ludwig was worried about the situation, but he wasn't going to cross the border to find out. That may have been exactly what Ivan wanted, or it could spark another battle that neither pack was prepared for. According to Ludwig, the other pack's home had been severely damaged by the fire that had quickly spread and consumed almost everything, but at least the rain had kept it from moving deeper into the forest. They were probably just rebuilding.

Thoughts like this were drifting in and out of Lili's mind as she sat looking out the window. It was a struggle to keep her eyes open, but she fought her fatigue for Vash's sake. She knew he was concerned about her, so she did what she could to ease his worries. She had even gotten up early to make him breakfast that morning, but she was starting to wish she hadn't. The time spent running through the forest made her whole body ache. Her lack of sleep wasn't helping much either. Vash walked into the dining room just as Lili's head was beginning to bob in the hazy motions of nodding off.

"I'll be out for a bit," he said as he slipped on his boots.

Lili wouldn't have thought much of it, except for the fact that he had his rifle slung across his back. "Where are you going?"

"Town meeting." He knelt down to tie his bootlaces. "There's something important that needs to be decided."

"Why do you need your gun?" she asked. A yawn threatened to ruin her appearance of being well rested, so she suppressed it the best that she could.

Vash stood and adjusted the rifle strap. "We're deciding whether to hunt the werewolves now, or later tonight."

Lili was wide awake now. She didn't even have to pretend. "What? But why wo-"

"Don't worry. We're not going after the group that helped us rescue you." Her brother shifted uncomfortably. "I don't think you know, but the treaty's been broken. We're just sitting ducks. That's why we have to get them first."

"But they haven't done anything, and it's already been almost a month. Please, Vash. Think about what you're doing."

"No, you think about it!" he shouted as he slammed his fist onto the dining room table. Lili jumped in her chair at the unexpected action, and he sighed. "I'm sorry. I shouldn't have scared you like that." He looked her in the eyes. "They're a threat to all of us, Lili. If we don't do something about it, who's to say that they won't try coming after us again? After you again?"

"There has to be another way," she said in a trembling voice.

"There isn't." Vash looked away. "I should be back in time for dinner, unless we leave tonight." The door slammed behind him as he left.

What could she do? There were so many things that were unaccounted for. It was possible that the villagers were going to walk straight into a trap. Maybe Ivan's pack was still recovering from the last battle. It could be one, both, neither, or any combination of the two. The whole idea of a preemptive strike seemed wrong to Lili. She didn't want to wait for Ivan to make his move, but this didn't seem like the right way. There had to be a way to stop this before it destroyed everything.

She got up from the table and left the house. Instead of walking toward the southern gate, which was the closest to the territories occupied by the two werewolf packs, Lili walked toward the northern gate as quickly as she could without drawing attention. She had no idea where the meeting was being held, but it was in her best interest to avoid it. It was unlikely that anyone would think she was going to warn the werewolves if they saw her, but she thought it best to not take that chance. The fate of the forest seemed to rest on her shoulders after all.

No one stopped her as she walked right out of Schattenwald, and she waited until she was out of sight before running. She ran until she got to the edge of the forest and transformed. Usually, she would be out of breath by now, but her new werewolf stamina guaranteed that she could run for at least an hour at the same pace without having to stop and rest. The forest became a green blur around her as she poured all her energy into running. Lili was the smallest wolf in the pack, even smaller than Feli, but that gave her the advantage when it came to speed. Sometimes she had to slow her pace just so Ludwig could keep up with her. She poked fun at him for that. Gently, of course. She didn't want to injure his pride.

Trees and low branches whipped past her as she changed her direction to a more southern one. Lili had decided to run around the western edge of the forest toward Ludwig's territory since it was faster than going the other way. She was so fast that her paws felt like they weren't even touching the ground. In a few minutes, the forest was starting to look familiar, and she knew she was in her pack's territory. There was still quite a distance to cover before she arrived at the cave though.

Lili nearly ran into Antonio and Gilbert when she skidded to a halt in the clearing in front of the cave. The two were standing in their human forms with no shirts on and were apparently trying to best each other somehow. It didn't really matter to Lili what they were doing because she was more concerned about not hitting them. She managed to stop just before colliding into the two surprised looking men.

"Is that who I think it is?" Antonio asked with wide green eyes. His eyes always made it seem like he was on a verge of laughing, and now was no exception.

"Well, well, well. It's rare to see you here during the day, kid." Gilbert grinned at her fondly. "I thought you were West for a sec, but you're much too small!"

"Where is he?" she asked them both urgently.

"I don't know. Probably out hunting or moping in the cave or something," the white haired man said with a shrug. "Toni and I were just gonna wrestle to see who's stronger. Wanna be the judge?"

"I don't really have time for th-"

"But that's not fair for you because Lili would pick me no matter what," Antonio told Gilbert.

"You wanna bet?"

"How does one week of dawn patrol sound?"

"You're on, curly!"

"Uh, excuse me," Lili said, but they weren't listening.

"You're never going to get out of this headlock, kesesesese!"

"Too bad it's as weak as your tan."

"Hey! Just because you turn the color of dirt in the sun doesn't make you stronger!"

"H-hello? Is anyone listening to me?" Still neither one answered.

"Then why don't you break out of this hold?"

"Strategy! It's all part of my super awesome strategy!"

Lili was reaching her wit's end. "I hate to interrupt, but there's something really important going on."

"Don't...sweat it...kid. We're...listening," Gilbert grunted.

"Looks like you're losing to me," Antonio added.

"You wouldn't know what winning looks like if it kicked you in the nose just like I'm going to!"

"I don't think that's legal in wrestling."

"Legal-shmegal! Sometimes you gotta fight dirty."

"So you're saying you can't win a clean fight?"

"Not when you're cheating, bastard!"

She had had enough. "The humans are going to attack the other pack!"

They both stopped and looked at Lili, who had shifted back into her human form, in shock. Gilbert appeared to be trying to stuff his foot in Antonio's mouth, and Antonio was trying to tickle him without getting caught.

"What?" they both said at once.

"They're taking advantage of the broken treaty to wipe out Ivan's pack. We have to stop them!"

A rustling sound came from behind her, and Lili turned to see Ludwig and the others step out into the clearing. Most of them had their eyes widened in surprise, and a few had their hackles raised aggressively. Ludwig didn't seem too affected by the news, but his eyes conveyed deep concern.

"When are they attacking?" he asked.

"Right now."

"Then there's no time to waste."


	22. Chapter 22: Vash

As a general principle, Vash didn't like lying. He didn't like lying, and he didn't like being lied to. It was true that he hadn't been lying when he told Lili he was going to a meeting, but he had made sure to omit a somewhat important detail. The idea for a sneak attack had been his. He was spearheading the entire operation. Preparations had been made for weeks now, and would have gone smoother if not for a minor setback.

The werewolf they had been holding captive had escaped. No one would admit to letting the werewolf free, but it had to have been someone in the village. Who else would have known where he was being kept? Originally, the werewolf had been thrown in the spare stall to keep everyone from panicking. It wasn't decided to keep him until Vash had suggested the raid. Having someone with a good sense of smell and hearing would come in handy once they were deep in enemy territory because Vash needed his plan to go off without a hitch.

He met with the rest of the attack party. They were actually the members of the original search party. It was decided they would be the ones to go since they had the most experience in actual combat against the werewolves. A few of the men had not been happy about the fact that they had to go back out into the forest, but the others grimly accepted it as necessary. Alfred was the only one who seemed to be excited about the whole thing.

"I'm gonna be the hero!" he shouted as the party moved toward the forest. The consensus had been to start the attack sooner than later.

No one bothered to shush him. Like Vash, they were probably too busy reliving the memories of that fateful night from almost a month ago. Through some miracle, no one had died. There were a large number of minor injuries across the group, and only two broken fingers. Matthew had been the only one to not get injured at all. Apparently, none of the werewolves had seen him during the battle. They just ran past him as if he weren't there at all.

Vash tried to use what he recalled of the last fight to help him come up with a strategy for this one. A surprise attack seemed to work well, so that was what he was aiming for this time. There was no way they could best the werewolves in speed or strength, so they were going to have to outsmart them. Maybe if they were lucky, they'd catch the wolves completely off guard while they were in their human forms. It would be easier to hit the vital spots of a human rather than that of a large wolf.

No one spoke as they were swallowed by the forest. Eerie sounds seemed to come from every direction, and some of the men shifted nervously. Even Alfred had quieted down and glanced around warily. They were at a disadvantage in a closed, shaded area like this, but they were just going to have to keep their fingers crossed that nothing would find them before they found the werewolves. Vash believed in making his own luck, but as they slowly trudged through the untouched wilderness he wished for whatever luck he could find.

"It's a little too quiet, don't you think?" Francis asked in a low voice. He was right. All the forest sounds from before seemed to have stopped. "Maybe Arthur's eyebrows scared all the animals away."

Arthur's head whipped around and he glared at Francis. "What did you say?"

"Guys, maybe now's not the best time for this," Alfred hissed.

Roderich adjusted his glasses. "For once I agree with the imbecile."

"Would you all just shut it?" Vash snapped before anyone else could get a word in. "Don't forget what we came here to do."

That killed the conversation instantly and gave Vash time to contemplate his own words. Why had they come out here? He had told Lili it was to protect her. He had said it was to keep them from being defenseless against future attacks. His grip on his rifle tightened as he realized he hadn't been telling the full truth again. In reality, he was scared. Never would he admit that to anyone, but he was scared of the werewolves. Scared that he could lose everything to them, and scared that he was powerless to stop it. He was just one person. How could he keep his sister safe from beasts that were a threat to their own kind?

He thought about the big pale wolf he had seen going after Lili. What had the other werewolves called him? Ivan? Vash didn't care for names, but he knew that this Ivan was their ringleader. If the head of the beast is severed, the rest of the body dies with it. That's why Vash had to cut the head before anything else happened, and the head was Ivan. His thoughts turned toward the other large wolf, Ludwig. He seemed to be the leader of his group, so if push came to shove, Vash might have to take him out too. He hoped it wouldn't come to that.

The sun was high above the canopy of leaves over their heads when they stopped for a break. They were almost at their target, so they decided it would be best to eat and rest now for the fight ahead. It was one of the quietest meals Vash has ever had with this particular group of people. Usually, somebody was talking or causing some kind of trouble, but everyone was focused on eating instead. Arthur and Francis weren't going at it, which was unnerving in its own way, even though their hands had accidentally bumped when they reached for their guns at the same time.

They finished quickly and were moving once again. Their progress was slow since they were creeping along as softly as they could in an effort to not broadcast their presence. It wouldn't end well if they were the ones who were attacked by surprise and not the ones doing the surprise attacking. Vash didn't want any unnecessary deaths to be stacked against him. Death wasn't something he reveled in. He may have been a good shot, but that didn't mean he enjoyed shooting people. If werewolves counted as people.

It wasn't long before they had found the small clearing where the werewolves had been before. Black ash was still streaked everywhere the fires had touched, and a few of the unstable looking shelters had actually collapsed. The strangest thing of all was that the area seemed deserted. Not a single living thing stirred except for the attack party. Vash watched anxiously for something to move, but nothing did. The lair was completely void of life. He was about to signal for everyone to break cover and investigate, but something was moving in the distance and getting closer. Six large, furry figures burst out of the undergrowth into the clearing, and Vash recognized them as Ludwig and his group. What in the world were they doing here?

"It looks like we beat them here," the white one, Gilbert, said.

Several of the other wolves were sniffing the air, but they all jumped back in surprise when someone walked out of one of the shelters. It was a tall man with a long white scarf wrapped around his neck. Vash felt like he was familiar somehow, even though he knew that he had never seen this man before in his life.

"What do we have here?" the man asked as he looked at the werewolves gathered in the clearing. "Have you come to finish us off?"

The white wolf seemed to sneer. "Only if that's what you want."

"Enough, brother," Ludwig reprimanded.

"You watch that tongue or it might disappear." Ivan may have said it pleasantly, but it was obviously a threat. Vash tensed as hostility saturated the atmosphere.

Ludwig shot him a look that clearly said he was not in the mood for a fight. "We're here to talk, Ivan."

"Oh? How unlike you." Ivan smiled. "What would you like to talk about first? Reasons why I should not kill you, or reasons why I should not kill your friends hiding in the bushes?"

Vash's eyes went wide. Ivan had known they were there the whole time. Ludwig and his group turned toward them with surprise, and Vash knew that hiding was futile. He stood, and the rest of his group followed.

"Big brother?"

Of all the voices he was expecting to hear, that was not one of them. He watched with a mixture of shock and curiosity as Lili slid off Ludwig's back. She did it with such grace and control that he wondered if she had done it before.

"Lili?" He was still too dumbfounded to find the right words. "What are you…?"

"I had to stop you!" she cried. "I couldn't let you do this."

"So you really have turned against us," Ivan said to Ludwig. "You have joined with the humans to destroy us. Us. Your own kind."

"No! It's not like that," Lili insisted. "We came to stop you from destroying each other." She looked back and forth between Vash and Ivan. "There has to be a better way."

"We'll never be safe while his kind roam the forest," Vash said through grit teeth. He hadn't counted on his sister to show up, but seeing her only helped to solidify his resolve. This was something he had to do. For the safety of everyone.

"I could say the same for you, human." Ivan's pleasant demeanor was all but gone. His expression had taken on the look of something much more twisted in nature as a crazed grin spread across his face.

"No! No!" Lili stood in between the two, but there was nothing she could do.

Vash raised his rifle, and Ivan crouched. Ludwig and his group looked on, unsure of what to do. There was the faint sound of footsteps as the rest of Ivan's group stepped out of the shadows into the light. Everyone watched tensely, and Vash could feel his heart in his throat. His finger itched on the trigger. One tiny jerk, and he could end this all. Right here, right now.

"What about a new treaty?"

It took everyone a moment to process what had been spoken. A small brown werewolf stepped forward and looked around for approval. He didn't seem to mind that he just stepped into a potential battlezone.

"We could just write up a new treaty since Lovi broke the last one."

Nobody moved, and nobody spoke. The words just hung in the air, rather precariously in Vash's opinion. His finger still hadn't moved from it's place on the trigger.

"Wait, is that even possible?" Gilbert asked.

"Why not?" the brown wolf, who Vash remembered was named Feliciano, replied. "As long as everyone agrees on it, it's as good as the last one, right?"

"He does make a good point," Ludwig agreed.

"So you are going to sign your freedom away again?" Ivan asked. He had been carefully listening to everything and stood up straight to address the other group of werewolves. "You are willing to let the humans tell you how to live?"

"No." Ludwig said it with such authority that even Ivan seemed taken aback. "This treaty will be written fairly for every group involved."

"And how will you guarantee that?"

"We'll need a moderator."

"A moderator?" Vash repeated. He finally lowered his weapon and allowed himself to relax. But only slightly.

"Yes, a moderator," Kiku said in a somewhat enthusiastic voice. "An unbiased third party that will even out the balance of power."

Arthur crossed his arms. "And where are we supposed to find someone like that?"

"I-I'll do it." All eyes were on Lili as she timidly raised her hand. "I'll do it," she said a little louder.

"You?" Ivan took a step closer to her, and she flinched away. "You are not what I would call unbiased, yes? It does not matter how much time you have spent among us. You are still a human."

"That's where you're wrong."

Without warning, her whole body shuddered. At the same time, a heavy rock seemed to fall into Vash's stomach. He didn't want to see, but he couldn't look away. His sister, his little baby sister seemed so far away. In her place stood a small wolf with fur as pale as cornsilk and eyes the color of mint leaves.


	23. Chapter 23: Lili

The atmosphere was already tense before the werewolves even arrived, but their appearance only helped to make it worse. Lili sat nervously by herself in one of the four chairs set around a large circular table. The meeting to draft a new treaty was to take place inside of the Great Hall in the center of Schattenwald, which was usually used for social gatherings and town meetings. It was the most neutral place anyone could think of since the werewolves were surrounded by humans, and the space was too confined for the humans to use any weapons. That logic did nothing to ease the tensions between the two groups

Both packs had arrived in their human forms as they agreed beforehand to do. The alpha male of each group sat in the two remaining seats at the table; Ludwig across from Vash, and Ivan across from Lili. The original search party and each pack stood behind their leaders while casting distrustful glances at each other. There was no one behind Lili, but she almost prefered it that way. She was the mediator, the liaison. She wasn't supposed to have anyone on her side.

"It looks like we can get started now," Vash said. No one seemed upset that he was taking control of the meeting, so he proceeded. "We propose a treaty with a strict no contact clause. You are not to come on our land. Ever."

"You mean to punish us?" Ivan asked with narrowed eyes. "You dare attack us, and then tighten the nooses around our necks?"

"I agree that this proposed idea is too restrictive. Most of the conflicts that have occurred lately seem to have been caused by the inflexible nature of the last treaty," Ludwig added.

Vash's lips pressed into a thin line. "Then what do you propose?"

"Something with less restrictions on boundaries."

"You are being too lenient, Ludwig." Ivan's violet eyes flickered between the other alpha and Vash. "There should be no limitations. We have suffered long enough under the terror of the humans."

"Perhaps we should let our mediator decide."

They all turned to look at Lili, who swallowed nervously. Even though she had volunteered for this position, she was afraid that she would make the wrong choices. Instead of improving relations between the two groups, she might just make them worse. Lili pushed those thoughts aside. Now was not the time to be doubting herself.

"It's true that the old treaty didn't give the werewolves much freedom, but there are other things to consider too," she said. "Not everyone would feel safe if there weren't any limitations."

"It sounds to me that you are agreeing with the humans," Ivan accused.

"No, I don't agree that no contact is the solution. Anyone, human or werewolf, should be allowed to go wherever they want without the fear of being attacked."

"We don't want giant beasts roaming the village streets," Vash objected, and the other men murmured in agreement.

Antonio raised his hand. "What if we were like this?" He gestured to himself. "Would it be all right if we, you know, looked like other people when we're on human territory?"

No one seemed too unhappy with the idea. Feli actually looked excited by it. Vash turned to the other men behind him, and they talked in hushed voices for a few moments.

"We will agree on one condition," he said when he turned back around. "Humans and livestock are not to be hunted not matter what."

Ludwig nodded his head. "That sounds fair. Ivan?"

The large man clasped his hands together on the table. "Yes, I suppose."

"Then we're all in agreement. The next thing I'd like to talk about is the changing of humans into werewolves."

Every person in the Great Hall froze. Lili's eyes went wide, and she snuck a peek at Elizabeta, who also appeared to be stunned beyond words. What was Ludwig planning on saying? By the looks on the faces of the members of his pack, they didn't know.

"I propose that it should be forbidden for any werewolf to forcefully turn a human without their permission," Ludwig continued.

Ivan actually seemed amused by the whole thing. "That sounds hypocritical coming from you," he said.

It took Lili a moment to realize he was talking about her. "He didn't force me!" she cried before she could stop herself. "This is what I wanted!"

Vash started at her with an expression that was a cross between horror and sadness. They hadn't talked much about her transformation in the days leading up to the meeting, but there was always the unspoken questions that hung between them like an unbreachable curtain.

"Forgive me. I did not mean to upset you," the tall man said with his usual smile. "But I will not agree to this idea."

"Why not?" Vash asked suspiciously.

"It is sentencing our kind to extinction. There is no faster way to make more of us than to change a human."

"There are other ways, however," Ludwig interjected before anyone could get upset. "In return for agreeing this idea, I expect the humans to respect anyone's decision to become a werewolf. In the past and future."

It was after he said this that Lili realized exactly what it was Ludwig was doing. He was making sure no retribution would come to her for choosing to become a werewolf, and he was also ensuring that the atrocities of the past which ruined lives like Elizabeta's would never be repeated. It was an ingenious move on his part.

"We accept," Vash said softly. Then he and Ludwig turned to stare at Ivan.

"Fine. We shall also accept." He sighed. "But in return, I propose that we be allowed to roam wherever we want at any time."

Lili's brother clenches his fists. "I don't think you're in a position to be making proposals."

"Are we not the ones who have suffered the most after your joint attack?"

Ivan's logic was undeniable. He had as much right to make suggestions, and blame for the current state of affairs, as any of the others, even if Lili didn't like his idea that much. But she didn't trust him enough to allow him and his pack to wander around as much as they pleased, so she had to get involved.

"What if we alter the old treaty?" she suggested. "Instead of the werewolves being allowed to go wherever they want on the night of the full moon, they can go wherever they want all day once a week. That way they have more freedom, but people don't have to worry about them being around all the time."

"An interesting idea," Ivan mused. "Will the humans respect it?"

"We will as long as you do," Vash said.

"Then it is agreed."

Ludwig's eyes swept around the table. "Are there any more proposals that need to be discussed?"

"What's for lunch?" Feli asked.

"Dude, I could totally go for something right now!" Alfred shouted.

"You just ate less than an hour ago," Arthur reminded him.

"Yeah, but this meeting made me hungry."

"You didn't even do anything, you stupid git!"

Their arguing seemed to be the signal that the meeting was over, and Vash shook hands with the two pack leaders to make the treaty official. A written copy would be made later and kept somewhere safe until there was cause for another to be made. Lili hoped that day would never come. As she watched the three different groups slowly merge and mingle, she wished for the peace to last forever.

"Are you ready to go home?"

She turned to see Ludwig standing beside her seat at the table. Lili stood and looked up into his blue eyes. "Yes, I think so."

"We'll be waiting for you whenever you're ready."

He turned and joined the crowd of people all talking together. It was a strange, but wonderful feeling to see the walls between both groups falling down, yet Lili still felt a little somber. No matter how many walls they tore down, humans and werewolves would always exist in two different worlds. And it wouldn't be possible for her to live in both. She caught Vash's eye, and he moved to join her. It wouldn't be easy to tell him the things she needed to say, but it had to be done. She had made her choice.


	24. Epilogue: Vash

Normal is a very strange word. What is normal? Vash used to think he knew, but now he wasn't so sure. Everything had seemed so far from normal since the night Lili disappeared so long ago, and it hadn't really ever gone back. Sometimes he would wake up in the morning and expect to find her in the kitchen making breakfast, but she was never there. The house always felt so empty and quiet without her cheerful laughter or quiet inquisitions. It was like no one lived there at all.

Nothing ever felt normal anymore. Waking up to an empty house was strange. Cooking food for one person was strange. The bluish glow that came from the garden behind the house was strange. The odd tinkling noises he thought he heard from the garden was strange. Werewolves having weddings in the village church was strange. The fact that it had been two years since the new treaty was agreed upon was strange.

Vash woke up some mornings not knowing what to do. On those days, he would walk through the forest hoping he would see her. Even just a small glimpse of her light gold fur between the bushes would be enough. He never went as far as the cave that he knew was hidden somewhere deep in the southern part of the forest. It would take two days of walking, and he knew he wouldn't exactly be welcome there. His unexpected visit would be like someone walking into his house without bothering to ask first. He had been invited plenty of times, but Vash never accepted. It would be admitting something that he never wanted to admit.

He didn't empty out her room either. He left it exactly the way it was. Even when the smell of flowers that was distinctly hers disappeared, he still didn't bother to move anything. Sometimes he opened the window make it feel lived in, but that didn't change the fact that no one had lived there for years. Years. He could never believe it had been years. Each day felt kind of the same.

There was one day every week that Vash actually looked forward to, and today was that day. He wouldn't admit it to anyone, but he always made sure that the house was looking nice and that there was plenty of food in the pantry. He didn't want her to worry that he wasn't taking care of himself. She may have had new responsibilities of her own, but she still found time to worry about him. It seemed that some things just never change. The thought brought a very small smile to Vash's face. The world may have been falling apart around her, but she still worried her little self over everyone else's problems.

Vash carefully set a vase full of flowers from the garden on the dining room table. He didn't enjoy gardening as much as she did, but he did it for her sake. It was worth spending long hours on his knees pulling stubborn weeds just to see the joyful smile on her face when she spent a few moments in that garden. Sometimes he thought he saw her talking to the air, but it must have been his imagination. Honestly, he wouldn't care if she was talking to nothing or dancing around wearing nothing but her underwear. The thing that mattered most was that she was there at all.

One of the flowers seemed out of place, so he tried to fix it the best that he could. His face set into a scowl as the flower continued to be stubborn. He never had a knack for that kind of thing, but he wasn't about to give up yet. The struggle continued for another minute before he decided to pull the whole flower out and forget about it. His suddenly foul mood had nothing to do with the flower really. It was possible that she wouldn't come at all. There were times in the past where she had been too busy with other things to be able to come that week, and before that there had been a few months where she hadn't visited at all. It wasn't her fault necessarily, but it had made Vash anxious. Now he was always nervous that she might not show up on the one day that she could.

He went over his mental checklist again. The garden was weeded, the house was cleaned, there was food in the pantry, and flowers on the table. Vash had even gotten a few sweets this week for some other visitors that would be coming. That had been a difficult one to explain. He didn't want people to think he liked to waste money on frivolous things like candy, but he couldn't help himself. There wasn't any candy in the forest after all.

All this waiting around was starting to make Vash uneasy, so he stepped out of the house for some fresh air. Maybe a quick stroll was just the thing to take his mind off his anxieties. Out of habit, he turned toward the south gate and began to walk. His pace was usually on the brisk side, so he had to make a conscious effort to control every step to ensure that this walk was actually a walk and not an agitated march. The sky was clear, and a refreshing breeze tousled Vash's chin length hair. He took a deep breath that seemed to release every tension from his body. This was exactly what he needed.

He was going to turn back once he got to the south gate, but something caught his eye. Someone was walking toward Schattenwald on the path that led from the forest. It was too soon to know who it was, but Vash hoped. He hoped with every fiber of his being that it was her. If any of the other villagers knew how much he wished for it to be her, they would have thought he was crazy. But he didn't care. Was it so wrong for him to want some small piece of normality back? The figure grew closer, and he realized that it wasn't one person but three.

To Vash, each moment felt like an entire day. After one day passed, he thought he could see the waving folds of a pink dress. After two, he thought he could see blonde hair. After three, four, five days, he saw bright green eyes and a smile that lit up his world.

Lili hadn't changed much in two years. She was still short and physically unintimidating. Her voice was like the wind softly rustling the trees, and she loved to worry about other people. She was still very much the little sister she had always been. Vash's world seemed to revolve around her just as many other worlds did, including the two that were with her. The two playful bundles of gold fur were the only exceptions to the 'human forms only in the village' rule. It was uncanny how much they looked like miniatures of their parents.

She stopped just out of earshot and looked Vash over with the careful eyes that only a mother with small children has. He knew that she was evaluating whether he had been eating right and getting enough sleep. She seemed satisfied enough with what she saw and quickly closed the space between them. This was always Vash's favorite part. He loved being able to hold her closely and pretend like he never had to let go. This may not have been the life he would have chosen for her, but it was the life she was happy in and he couldn't deny her that. The little ones wagged their tails and barked happily.

"Welcome home," Vash whispered.

* * *

Hey everyone :) Thank you so much for reading this story and sticking it through to the end. I'm sorry if the end maybe wasn't what everyone was looking for, but it's just the way I felt the story going and had to finish it like that. I also have to apologize because I probably won't be posting much after this. I'm in college now and it keeps me pretty busy :/ That being said, I'm taking a break from publishing now to focus on school, but that doesn't mean I won't be writing whenever I can squeeze it in. Hopefully I'll have a bunch of new stuff for you once the school year is over :) Thanks for understanding and for all the support I get from each of you. You're all awesome!


End file.
